The Girl is Mine
by Allie2
Summary: *Completed!* My longest and probably my best piece on fanfic on The Fabulous Five characters. In this story, Keith's old crush on Jana is back and he sets out to steal her from Randy, causing problem after problem.
1. Default Chapter

Keith

Keith

"Hey, Jana." 

Jana Morgan looked up from where she was studying her history book at the library table. Her face showed her surprise at seeing me, but she immediately went blank and quickly answered, 

"Oh, um, hi, Keith." She turned back to her reading and I sighed and set my book down in front of the chair across from her. I wasn't surprised her answer was so unfriendly. We hadn't been on the greatest terms since last year when I tried to get her to go out with me and she had refused me over and over, and then when my plan to get back at her by telling everyone something was going on between us backfired... well, it didn't help things. (There really hadn't been anything going on between us, but I wish there had been. I still couldn't help wishing that could happen someday.) Of course her boyfriend who she had been broken up with at the time, Randy Kirwan, was furious when he realized I had been, well um, lying about how Jana had a thing for me and that I actually DID have a thing for her, and - needless to say- we're not exactly what you'd call friends today. And naturally, Jana treats me the same as Randy does. (They're back together again, by the way.) 

"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked, motioning to the chair. 

She shrugged without looking up. 

"I don't care. I don't own it." 

I slid in to the chair, and opened my book, but I didn't start reading it. I wished that I was at least friends with Jana again. She had ignored me all year, so far, and even though I knew I didn't have a chance dating wise right now, I'd NEVER have a chance to date her if I didn't start out being friends again. I shifted in my seat and tried to muster the courage to say something to her. It was hard, though, because she was totally ignoring me at the moment... reading a bit in her book, then jotting down notes in her notebook. I tried not to stare, but I couldn't help but notice how the light from the window shone on her dark wavy hair, making it seem to shine even more. At the moment, she was skimming a page, her beautiful brown eyes taking in all the lines quickly. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and I wondered if she was getting too warm- she had a pretty heavy sweater on. But it looked nice on her, fuzzy looking and a deep lavender- my favorite color on her, even though I think she'd look great in anything, probably even, like, a burlap bag. I sighed. No doubt about it. Jana was definitely one gorgeous chick. I had thought she was really pretty last year, but amazingly, she'd actually gotten even CUTER over the summer. Her figure had improved a lot over the summer, too, if you know what I mean. Suddenly, Jana looked up and frowned slightly when she caught me staring at her. 

"What?" 

I grinned. "What what?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. I had her attention though. It was now or never.

"Hey, Jana, I know there are still some hard feelings from last year. You know, when I kind of told everyone that, y'know, there was something kind of going on between us..."

"You LIED and practically ruined my social life, and any future chances with Randy, you mean," she snapped. Ouch. She was definitely still sore over the whole thing. I wondered if I should continue, she looked pretty mad; but then, what did I have to lose? 

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was a real jerk then, and I'm SORRY. Really, really sorry. I mean, I know what I did was wrong. I was upset and really immature."

"What are you trying to say, Masterson?" Jana asked with a frown. I looked down at the table, then back up again and right into her eyes, speaking with as much feeling and sincerity as I could. 

"What I'm trying to say is, is, well, I want you to forgive me. Really. I want us to be, like, friends again. It hurts that we can't even TALK to each other. I know it's hard for you to forgive me and everything, but I'm sorry. I mean, we've known each other so long and I think it's sad that you won't even forgive me. I'm trying to-"

"Whoa, whoa." Jana held up her hand, I looked up to see her smiling slightly. "Hold on, Keith. It's okay, really. You don't know to give a speech." She sighed and played with her pencil for a few minutes. I bit my lip and waited. It was so important that she chose to forgive me. What would I do if she didn't? Finally, she sighed again and said, "It is kind of hard for me to totally forget everything you did then, but it hasn't made me any happier to be upset with you. You were a jerk, but if you're trying to change.... that's not very cool of me not to give you a chance, right?" She tilted her head, then flashed me her knockout smile. "So... sure. You're forgiven. I'm willing to bury the hatchet if you are."

I was entralled. "Wow, really? I mean, wow. Thanks, Jana. You have no idea how great that makes me feel." How cool was she?! I mean, how many girls are willing to forgive a guy for something like that?

She laughed. "Me too." 

We smiled at each other, then she returned to her writing for a minute and I pretended to read my book, even though I was too happy to think about it at all. I was turning the page (without having read anything) when suddenly a familiar voice called Jana's name, one that made me freeze in my seat. 

Oh. My. Gosh. Randy! What would he think when he saw me sitting right across from his girlfriend?! Especially when he pretty much hated me right now and practically forbid me to even LOOK at Jana. But that was when Jana was mad at me too. Maybe now if she was nicer to me, he would be too. Not like I really liked being around Randy or anything anymore, but he was very popular and I guess cool and it would be great to get back into his crowd again. 

"Randy! Hi!" Jana grinned, waving at Randy, who came over and had kissed her (argh) before he even noticed me. It was obvious when he did though. He immediatly straightened back up and his face went from happy to angry in about 2 seconds. 

"What's HE doing here?" He demanded, directing his question at Jana but glaring at me. 

"Randy- hey, Randy- it's okay-" Jana started, putting her hand on Randy's arm. 

"Hey, man," I tilted my chin up at him and then stood up, holding my book. "Nothing. I was just doing some reading." 

"Yeah, I'll be you were," Randy snapped, ignoring Jana. 

"Really! Isn't that what you do in a library?" I tried to defend myself, glancing at Jana for help who was darting worried looks between Randy and me. 

"Amazing choice of seating. There's only about 100 empty tables here today." 

"I can sit anywhere I want, and besides, the light's best here. What, do you own the library?" I retorted, feeling my blood beginning to boil. I'm what you would call an agressive person. I love a good challenge and especially a good fight. 

"Listen, Masterson, just because-" Randy growled, taking a step closer to me and I instinctively took one towards him. 

"Hey, guys! Please!" Jana begged, in a hushed voice. We both stopped and looked at Jana, her eyes pleading with us. "Don't get the librarian over here!"

Randy and I glared at each other a moment. Then I broke the spell.

"Bye, Jana. I'll see you at school." I smiled at her, ignored Randy's furious look, and sailed out of the library. Take that! I thought. Randy was such a jerk. I don't know what Jana in him anyway. It would serve him right if Jana and I started to be friends again. In fact, I couldn't wait to go back to school so I could start talking to her again. What could Randy do if Jana stood up for me? 

I smiled to myself as I left the library. I was happy to be Jana's friend again, but I couldn't help wishing for more. No, don't start, Keith. I told myself. Stop while you're ahead. 

But someday. Someday, I would be more then Jana's friend.


	2. Randy

Randy

Randy

"I can't believe you let him sit across from you like that," I muttered to my girlfriend, Jana Morgan, as I slid into the seat next to hers at the library table. She took my hand and squeezed it. 

"He wasn't being obnoxious, Randy. He actually- get this-apologized for the way he acted last year, and wants to be friends again."

"Don't tell me you believed him!" I gasped, almost dropping Jana's hand. How could Jana fall for something like that? Keith was the jerk of the world. He was such a jerk that even some of the other jerky kids at school cringed when he walked by. If there was a contest for Total Jerkdom, Keith Masterson would not only make the team, he would win the gold medal. Maybe you think I'm not being fair, but if you knew the whole story how he tried to steal Jana from me and LIED about how something was going on between the two of them last year... you would know exactly how I feel. To think I almost lost Jana- the best girl in the entire world- because of his dorkdom... ugh. No wonder I wanted to pound him into the ground everytime I got within 5 feet of him. 

"He sounded like he really meant it, Randy. And I mean, the best I can do is give him the benefit out of the doubt, right?" She smiled at my sullen face and tried to push the corners of my mouth up. "Smile. Don't be a grouch. Better days are coming." 

I couldn't help but laugh and she laughed too. I swear, she has the cutest laugh in the world. Just hearing her laugh makes you happy. But then I remembered Keith and I frowned again. 

"I just don't trust him, Jana. I can't believe he wants to be friends out of the goodness of his heart... if he even has any at all," I retorted, and Jana sighed, resting her elbows on the table and rubbing her temples with her fingertips. Strands of her dark hair fell across her face and she pushed them back behind her ears. 

"What, do you think he's up to something?" 

"Undoubtedly. And I'm sure it has something to do with taking you away from me. He's still madly in love with you and would jump at the chance to try and win your affection." 

Jana blushed and tossed her head. "As if! You know I don't like Keith like that AT ALL, Kirwan."

"Did I say you're madly in love with him? No, I said he's madly in love with you," I pointed out. It made me mad at Keith just to THINK about how much he still liked MY girlfriend. It's one thing to tell a guy off for hitting on your girl, but how could you order him to stop thinking about her?? I wish there was some way I could totally erase Jana from his mind. 

Jana turned and put her hand on my arm, looking me straight in the eyes with her own amazing brown ones. "It takes two to make a couple, Randy. And I can promise you that nothing will ever happen between Keith and I. You KNOW you're the only boy I like like that. Okay?" 

I sighed. "At least not if you can help it. It's not that I don't trust you. I just don't trust him. He'd do anything to get you, Jana." 

She rolled her eyes. "Please, Randy. You make it sound like I'm all he ever thinks about. Don't be weird! Besides, he didn't do or say anything romantic or whatever while he was here." She paused a moment and sort of frowned. "Well, he did kind of stare at me for awhile, but I think he was trying to get his nerve up to apologize. That would be pretty hard, wouldn't it?" 

"What, to stare at you? Not at all," I said softly, lacing my fingers through hers. 

She blushed and ducked her head. "That's not what I mean. You know what I meant." 

"So now you think he's wonderful because he was able to apologize." 

"Randy!" She cried, whirling around to look at me. When she saw the twinkle in my eye, she slugged me playfully. "You are being so weird." She laughed then turned back to her book. "I'm never going to get any of this reading done." 

"Do it later. Its that history thing due Tuesday, right? Babe, it's only Saturday. You have forever. Come one. Let's go to Bumpers or something." 

"I don't know..." she bit her lip. "I really should work on this some more."

"Please," I pretended to beg, "I came all the way to the library to find you. Honest. I called your house and your mom said you were here and so I came to get you. You can't blow me off after all my hard work."

She threw her head back and laughed. "All right, Randy Kirwan, how can I say no when you've worked so hard..." she picked up her books and stood. "But only under one condition- you have to carry my books, Mr. Strong Man."

I grinned at her and took her hand and her books. Okay, so I was still a little upset (okay, a lot upset) over Keith trying to butter my girlfriend up with fake apologies, but I would push that away for now and enjoy my time with Jana. If anything could improve my mood, it was her. 

I would deal with Keith later.


	3. Jana

Jana

Jana

"I'm home!" I called out, setting my books on a chair in the living room of our apartment building and heading to the kitchen for an apple. Okay, yeah, so I'd just had an order of fries and a shake at Bumpers not 20 minutes ago- but I was still a little hungry. Growing girls need their engery- what more can I say? A minute later, my mom came out of her bedroom and joined me in the kitchen. 

"Hi, honey," she said cheerfully as she got herself a glass of water. "Did you get your research done at the library?" 

"Not exactly, " I wiped the apple on the edge of my shirt and took a bite. "I got almost all my notes taken, but a 'certain someone' showed up before I got finished and he ended up persuading me to go to Bumpers with him." 

My mom grinned a little sheepishly. "Was I wrong to tell him where you were?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Nah. I was glad for the break and we haven't hung out together for a while." 

"Yeah, since yesterday," my mom teased. 

I playfully stuck my tongue out at her and then excused myself, grabbing my books from the living room and taking them with me into my room. I flopped onto my bed and glanced at my watch. It was almost 5 pm and I didn't have to be at the middle school football field to cheer at the j.v. game for another hour and a half. Which meant I had thirty minutes to get my notes in order before I had to start getting ready. 

It wasn't long, though, before my mind started to wander off the history paper I was supposed to be working on and back to earlier that afternoon in the library when I had been sitting there, minding my own buisness, when Keith Masterson came out of nowhere and actually started *apologizing* for the way he acted last year. Naturally, this threw me off my guard- I mean, Keith is not exactly one of those people who likes to be humbled, especially by himself. He always kind of acts like he's the biggest deal this side of Kentucky, and he's also rather infamous for often having some sort of trick up his sleeve. Besides that, ever since he spread all those horrible, false rumors last year, (after Randy Kirwan and I had temporarily split), about how he and I were sneaking around behind Randy's and Beth Barry's (my bff and Keith's ex) backs... well, I hadn't been able to tolerate is presence very well. Just seeing him had made me feel pretty ill. I certainly never saw us as getting along again. 

But today...

I rolled over on my back and stared up at the ceiling. The last thing I had expected to find myself doing when he sat down across from me at the library table was forgive him for everything. I mean, I had every reason to be furious at him for all eternity. Thanks to him, I could have lost Randy Kirwan FOREVER, and my entire social life as well. 

But when he had started apologizing... well, he had seemed so sincere and honest. Like he was truly sorry for what he'd done and really, really wanted to make up and wouldn't be happy until I had forgiven him. I couldn't imagine why my forgiveness would mean so much to him- I had been sure he had disliked me as much I had disliked him. I mean, geez, just how many times did I turn him down for a date during my breakup with Randy?? That certainly couldn't have helped his ego any. 

All the same, he had really seemed to want my pardon, and I couldn't help giving it to him. And looking back on it now, I'm sure I did the right thing. He had seemed so happy and relieved when I agreed to let bygones be bygones. And hey- I have to admit it made me feel pretty good, too, about forgiving him. I've disliked enough people in my fourteen years, and besides- Keith and I had known each other since kindergarten, and had been pretty good friends up until last year. Of course, just because we'd made amends, it didn't mean I was going to start crushing on him or anything now- I had Randy and that's all I wanted. Keith and I would be just friends and everything would be just perfect. 

If Randy didn't start freaking out at the idea. He's not exactly thrilled Keith and I have made up- he and Keith kind of have a hate thing going right now. Randy seems to think Keith still has a crush on me and that he's pretending to want to be 'just friends' so that he can 'worm his way into my heart', if you can imagine anything so WEIRD. I think Randy's actually a bit off on this one, which I won't hold against him- just a lapse in judgement, that's all. He probably thinks Keith's acting under his bad reputation of having 'tricks up his sleeve' when I can tell he's really sincere about *just* being friends. I'm sure Randy'll see this in no time and maybe he and Keith will even start getting along again themselves. 

I smiled to myself and stood up, heading to the closest to get my cheerleading uniform. Things were going to work out terrific- I just knew it. 


	4. Keith

Keith

Keith

"Hey, Masterson! Over here!" 

I turned around to see Bill Soliday waving me over from where he was standing next to the gates to our Middle School football field. I waved back to let him know I'd seen him, and headed that direction, weaving my way through the crowd of kids. It was a Saturday evening and I was meeting my friends to watch the 2nd-string WMS football team's game against the Georgetown Jaguars. It felt kind of strange to be at the field to WATCH a game instead of playing in it. It was weird being there to watch it at night, too- the only other time I'd come to this year to see the 2nd string team play was in the afternoon. (At our school the varsity- aka first string- team plays on Friday nights and the j.v. team plays Saturday afternoons. But something else had been going on at the field earlier today, so the game got pushed to evening.) The night was already starting to get chilly, so I was glad I was wearing my football jacket. 

"Hey, man," I greeted Bill once I'd reached him and the rest of the guys he was standing with, which included Tony Sanchez, Brad Cochran, Mark Peters and Randy Kirwan- all good friends of mine... except Kirwan., of course. We gave each other sour looks and I knew he was still upset that I'd been talking with Jana at the library together earlier today... alone. I couldn't help but grin at that. He was probably worried I had tried to come on to her or something. Well, let him think that if he wants. Randy noticed that grin on my face, and frowned deeper, probably wondering what I was smiling about. Let him wonder that too. 

"We'd better get in there," Tony said and we all moved to the gates and handed our tickets in. It was pretty packed inside the stadium- not as packed as it gets for our varsity games, but still pretty full. Mostly there were 6th and 7th graders who had come to watch their classmates play, but there were some other upperclassman there as well, which was a relief. 

We found seats in the bleachers just as the teams were finishing their warmups, and I was disgusted to find only Mark Peters seated between Randy and I. I wished there were a hundred people sitting between us. Heck, I wish Randy wasn't there at all. I could tell he was thinking the same thing about me. Unfortunatly for me, Mark and Randy are best friends and Randy took pleasure in holding Mark's attention and keeping a conversation going with him and leaving me out. I frowned, not about ready to put up with that. I am NOT used to be left out of things, and I especially didn't like being shown up by Randy Kirwan of all people. I was about ready to butt in whether he liked it or not when the cheerleaders began getting into place. Both squads- the varsity and junior varsity team; if it were just the j.v. squad, I couldn't have cared less. Babies. But the varsity... well, those were the girls in our class. Like, say, Jana Morgan. I smiled to myself. I had forgotten that the varsity cheerleaders often cheered at the j.v. games. And luck was with us because the j.v. positioned themselves on the other side of the Warriors bench and the varsity stood on the side right in front of us. I spotted Jana immediatly, of course. There were some other pretty girls on the squad, like Laura McCall and Melanie Edwards, but Jana was by far the best looking. I was kinda glad I'd decided to come- at our varsity games, we don't really get to check the cheerleaders out cause we're playing most of the time. But here, I had all the time in the world. Her pretty hair was pulled up and curled at the ends- a gold ribbon and a red ribbon (our school colors) were tied at the top of her ponytail, which I thought was a cute touch. I had to admit she looked especially hot in the short red skirt and form fitting red and gold sleeveless top. I wondered if she was getting chilly in this weather, though. It was certainly anything but warm, and the cheering outfit didn't cover a whole lot. 

Suddenly, Jana turned and looked up into the stands- right towards where I was sitting. I started to smile at her, when I was aware of movement to my right. It was Randy. He was smiling widely and waving at Jana, who was grinning and waving back. The she faced the other way again without even looking at me. I frowned. She seemed to have forgotten already that we were friends now. Unless she just didn't want to show any signs of friendship with her dumb boyfriend sitting right there. I turned to glare at him and at the moment, he looked a me too- a satisfied expression on his face. I half expected him to stick his tongue out at me. He said something I couldn't catch to Mark who glanced at me quickly and then said something back to Randy. 

Enough. I'd show Mr. Know-It-All. I stood up.

"Anybody want anything to eat or drink? I'm going to make a quick run to the concession stand." 

"But the game's about to start," Bill protested. 

"I know. I'll be back in a second. Want anything?" I insisted. Tony handed me money for a drink and I walked down the bleacher steps, feeling Randy's eyes boring into me. He probably thought I was up to something. 

I was, of course. 

To get to the concession stand, one had to walk right by the place where the varsity cheerleaders were standing. Of course they were on the other side of the fence, but that wasn't a problem. I walked right up to the fence and called, "Hey, Jana!" 

She turned from where she was talking to Melanie, a surprised look on her pretty face. When she saw me, she flashed her gorgeous smile and took a few steps closer. 

"Hi, Keith. What's up? You leaving already?" 

"Naw, I was just going to take a snack break."

"But the game's just started!" 

I grinned at her. "My stomach doesn't care. It says 'feed me' so I feed it. Simple as that." 

She laughed and I couldn't help feeling totally pleased with myself for this brilliant idea. Randy was probably up there dying right now. 

Just then the Warriors made a pretty good play so Dekeisha Adams called for the rest of the squad to do some cheer. Jana gave me a quick wave goodbye, then jumped into place. 

I felt like jumping in place, too. Not only had Jana left the rest of the squad to talk to me, but she had smiled at me and laughed at one of my jokes. And best of all, Randy Kirwan had seen the whole thing and was hopefully getting the picture that he couldn't intimidate *me*. 

Hey, what Keith Masterson wants, Keith Masterson gets. And Keith Masterson wants Jana Morgan.


	5. Beth

Beth

Beth

"--I mean, it was soooo weird. I was totally shocked," Melanie Edwards babbled over the phone Saturday night. She had just gotten back from the j.v. football game at the WMS field where she had been cheering and was telling me the highlights of the evening. Normally, I might have gone to the event myself just to hang out with friends, but I had been working with Melinda Thaler and Marcie Bee all night on the skit the three of us were writing and then performing for the next meeting of the Drama Club on Monday afternoon. I was pysched about the skit, but I couldn't help wishing now that I HAD gone to the game, just to witness what Melanie was telling me about.... what seemed so incredibly IMPOSSIBLE: 

Jana Morgan and Keith Masterson acting like friends. 

I was having a very hard time believing that. 

I made a face and stretched my legs out in front of me, pointing my toes so that they'd touch the wall on the other side of the hallway. 

"You're sure they weren't being sarcastic or anything, Mel? I mean-"

"No! No, they were serious. I've known Jana forever- I know when she's being sincere or not. And she was definitely being friendly to Keith. And he was definitely being friendly back," she paused for a breath, then continued before I had a chance to open my mouth. "Everybody noticed- especially Randy. I saw him up in the bleachers and if looks could kill, Keith would be a goner." 

I swallowed and felt a funny pang in my stomach. I was definitely over Keith now- he had been a real jerk to me last year... dumping me for my best friend and then making it look like Jana had practically coordinated the whole thing so I'd hate *her* forever. I knew I could never like him like I did last year, nor ever like him at all again. And I had thought the feeling was mutual for Jana. Was it possible she actually had a crush on him?? She'd have to be screwy in the head to drop someone like Randy for a loser like Keith. 

"Were they, like, flirting?" I asked finally. 

"No," Melanie replied. "Well, at least Jana wasn't flirting with him. She really was just being nice. But I'm not so sure about Keith. He had that kind of... grin again, or something. You know?" 

"Yeah. Like, do you think he's actually still got a crush on her? Even after she bruised his ego so bad last year?" I questioned, rubbing my right heel on my calf, which had fallen asleep. 

"I don't know. I was wondering the same thing. That would be so..."

"Weird."

"Yeah." 

I sighed. "Well, Keith is definitely weird, so I wouldn't put it past him. Besides, he's got eyes. I'm sure he's aware of Jana's looks." 

"Oh, gosh!" Melanie gasped. "Do you think he might just like her because she's pretty?"

I rolled my eyes and swallowed a groan. Here she is, America- Miss Naivety. Honestly. 

"Something like that. Or, well, that could be a part of it anyway."

We were both quiet a minute. Then Mel spoke up again. 

"What should we do?" 

I shrugged my shoulders as if she could see me over the phone. 

"I don't know what we COULD do. It's really none of our buisness if Jana and Keith are friends again. I just think it's weird that Jana didn't let us know that she and Keith made up, y'know? Like, I would think she'd tell us about it so we wouldn't be having a conversation like the one we're having now."

"Maybe they just made up recently- like, today or something," Melanie offered. Then she sighed. "I wish I would have gotten a chance to ask her about it at the game, but we cheered a lot and anytime we had a break, she was talking to Dekeisha or Alexis or Shawnie. Then she went right home after the game instead of Bumpers."

"Was Keith at Bumpers? You could have asked him," I said sarcastically. 

"Ha ha. Get real, Beth Barry. I'd rather rot then talk to THAT creep."

"BETH BARRY! GET OFF THE PHONE RIGHT NOW!!! I AM EXPECTING A VERY IMPORTANT CALL!!!!" 

I nearly jumped out of my skin as my older (and very obnoxious) sister, Brittany, appeared out of nowhere and screamed in my face. 

"All right, all right! Geez, take a chill pill," I muttered, waving Brittany away with my hand. "Mel, I gotta go. Her Royal Lowness is kicking me off. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Thanks for calling."

"Yeah, okay. Bye, Beth!" Melanie hung up and then I did too. After handing the phone over to Miss Britt, I headed for my room to think and get ready for bed. Things were certainly looking interesting. I made up my mind to call Jana first thing in the morning and ask her about it. If nothing was going on (if you know what I mean)- and I was pretty sure that couldn't be possible, Jana wasn't stupid- she would be honest with me and tell me the whole story. I guess it was really possible Keith just wanted to be friends with her again... but I just found that hard to grasp. I couldn't imagine Keith not having some underlying scheme. 

I closed my eyes: I could see it all in my mind- Keith asking Jana to please forgive him for the horrible way he acted like year (maybe he called her? No, he'd probably want to do it in person so he could put on a really sincere face) and that all he wanted was for them to be friends again. I knew, too, that if he had made it real sincere, Jana no doubt believed him. Minus a few obnoxious girls in our class, Jana likes to give people the benefit of the doubt. I tried to picture Keith actually being 100% honest with Jana about just being pals again, but I couldn't do it. I just couldn't see Keith not having some underlying plot. I sighed and started to put my pajamas on. I'd just have to wait and hear the whole story from Jana herself tomorrow. 

I just hoped Jana knew what she was getting herself into.


	6. Instant Messages Between Randy and Scott...

Instant Messages Between Randy and Scott That Night

Kirwan26: hey daly

Scotty-Boy: Hey, Kirwan! Waaaazzz uuuppp??

Kirwan26: nothing really. just got back from the football game.

Scotty-Boy: Cool. Wish I could have gone, but I had way too much homework to catch up on since I missed some school last week and everything. 

Kirwan26: well, u didn't miss that much at the game. 

Scotty-Boy: Really? Did we win?

Kirwan26: yeah, by like, 18 points. the other team was so bad it wasn't even funny. :-P 

Scotty-Boy: So there wasn't much to watch? 

Kirwan26: no. at least not on the field. 

Scotty-Boy: ??

Kirwan26: explain later. 

Scotty-Boy: Explain now. 

Kirwan26: ........

Scotty-Boy: Oh thank you- that helps so much. 

Kirwan26: did you hear about Keith and Jana?

Scotty-Boy: !!!

Kirwan26: it's not quite what you're thinking. 

Scotty-Boy: I didn't hear anything about them! Last I heard they still weren't speaking. 

Kirwan26: well, they're speaking. in fact, they're friends again. 

Scotty-Boy: No way!!! Seriously?? Since when??? 

Kirwan26: today. according to Jana, they made up at the library this afternoon. 

Scotty-Boy: At the library?? Were they studying together or something?? :-I

Kirwan26: no. Jana was studying and I guess Keith came up and sat with her and APOLIGIZED for how he acted and everything last year yada yada yada... gag me with a spo

Scotty-Boy: So she forgave him? 

Kirwan26: of course. you know Keith- he may be a jerk, but he does have a way with words. 

Scotty-Boy: What, you don't think he's sincere? Why would he just want to pretend to be friends??

Kirwan26: oh, no no. that's not what I meant. I think he really wants to be friends... being MORE then just friends is what bothers me. 

Scotty-Boy: aha. 

Kirwan26: yea

Scotty-Boy: So you think he still has a crush on her? 

Kirwan26: *without doubt* 

Scotty-Boy: OK, so don't get mad at me, but why do you think that? I mean, maybe he just doesn't want to be enemies anymore. I'm friends with Jana, too, but that doesn't mean I'm trying to become more. 

Kirwan26: better not :-( lol

Scotty-Boy: LOL, yeah, but answer the question. 

Kirwan26: you didn't see him at the game tonight. 

Scotty-Boy: Okay, Mr. Crypic-Remarks, please tell me more. What in the world does that mean? Believe me, my imagination can come up with a lot from that reply. 

Kirwan26: oh well, he didn't like kiss her or anything, but it was pretty obvious what he's got on his mind. 

Scotty-Boy: Randy...

Kirwan26: Scott.... hey, ask Mark if you think I'm jumping to conclusions. he was sitting right there and saw everything! it was like OBVIOUS. 

Scotty-Boy: 'Everything' ??

Kirwan26: flir-ting. 

Scotty-Boy: Say what? You mean he flirted with her or they flirted TOGETHER? You don't think...

Kirwan26: NO. Jana was just being 'friends'. seriously. we kind of already talked and I know how she stands. 

Scotty-Boy: Well, that's good. As long as you have Jana... I don't see why you should care whether they're friends or not. You don't care that *I'm* friends with her. You don't care that Shane or Bill or Mark or Der

Kirwan26: no, I don't. because I trust all of you guys. I just don't trust him. AT ALL. 

Scotty-Boy: Do you trust Jana?

Kirwan26: of course

Scotty-Boy: Well then???

Kirwan26: you KNOW Keith....

Scotty-Boy: Yeah, I KNOW Keith, I've known him just as long as you have. He *can* be a jerk. But I also don't think he's as bad as you make him out to be all the time...

Kirwan26: oh thanks! whose side are you on anyway? :-(

Scotty-Boy: YOURS, but I also think it's important not to get so upset so soon. Keith hasn't done anything wrong yet. He just asked Jana to forgive him. She forgave him. End of story. 

Kirwan26: I think this story is far from ended. 

Scotty-Boy: sigh ok, whatever. 

Kirwan26: I'm honestly not trying to disagree with everything you say, it's just that I see Keith in a different light then you do. He didn't try to take Mel away from YOU. 

Scotty-Boy: Ha. Melanie kind of did that on her own. 

Kirwan26: well, whatever, you know what I'm saying. I just want to keep extra close watch on him from now on. he's definitely determined to show the world they're friends and *I* don't put it past him to stop while he's ahead. 

Scotty-Boy: Yeah, I guess. I can help you, if you want. Jana and Keith are both in my history class. I can watch them Monday to see if they... talk or anything. 

Kirwan26: ok, thanks. oh, I g2g. thanks for lending an ear, pal. 

Scotty-Boy: Yeah, sure, anytime. Later!

Kirwan26: later


	7. Jana

Jana

Monday was one of my 'Behind-Days' where I start off the day running late and then can't seem to catch up for anything. I really hate those days. 

Anyway, when I got to school Monday morning, the first bell had already rung so I was practically alone in the halls switching books around in my locker and then had to *walk very fast* to homeroom 114. (Running is absolutely NOT TOLERATED in Wakeman. Seriously. You get Teen Court summons if you even START to break into a jog.) I coasted into the classroom just as Ms. Dickenson was calling the class to attention. She gave me a pointed look when I entered, but said nothing (thankfully!) so I gave her a brief smile, then slid into my seat as quickly as possible. I hadn't been tardy at all yet this year, and I didn't want to start now. 

As she began calling roll, I started to relax and leaned back in my seat to wait for my name. Glancing around the classroom, I immediatly noticed Keith Masterson, who sat a few rows down and one row up, looking at me and smiling. I smiled back, thinking again how nice it was that we had made up. Which reminds me, I thought suddenly, sitting up straight. I need to talk to the rest of the Fab Five and let them know what had happened on Saturday. I didn't know how many people knew Keith and I were friends again, but the last thing I needed was someone telling my best friends that. I needed to tell them myself or else they'd think something sneaky was going on. I closed my eyes in horror. THAT would be like last year all over again. I quickly made a note in my binder to talk to the girls at lunch or sooner and tell them everything. I really had meant to call all of them yesterday, but I'd been away all day yesterday with my mom and Pink, so I hadn't gotten the chance- not even to e-mail them. 

I didn't get a chance to talk to my friends before lunch. I had classes with them in the morning, but like I said it was a Behind-Day. For two of the classes I realized I had the wrong books with me, and then when I stepped into the math classroom, I remembered I'd left my homework in my locker and had to *nearly run* back to my locker to retrieve it. I actually was late for class, but amazingly, Mr. Neal waved me to my seat without a word and I thanked my lucky stars for another escape. Yet even through all the confusion, I did happen to notice that whenever any of my best friends were in one of my classes, they kept giving me funny looks. Which led me to believe they had indeed heard and which made me all the more antsy to tell them exactly how things happened, how they were, and how they were going to stay. 

I was actually the first one of the Fab Five in the cafeteria, so I grabbed our favorite table and spread my stuff out to save seats. I didn't want anyone besides the Fab Five at our table today. I was just starting to unpack my lunch when Christie came in. She acted pretty normal as she took a seat across from me and asked about my morning. Melanie and Katie arrived soon after, and then Beth came breezing out of the hot lunch line. Immediatly she took the seat next to me and cried, "Where were you yesterday?! I called your house, like, 80 times and I kept getting the machine! I half wondered if you'd left the country." 

I giggled. "I went with Mom and Pink to Gilchrist. They had some errands to run there, and so we made a day out of it. We went to the early service at church, left right after and didn't get back till late. I didn't realize you were trying to get a hold of me." 

Beth sighed and looked me straight in the eye. "Well, I had- have-something very important to ask you about." 

I just knew what she was coming to. It had to be. "Does it have something to do with Keith Masterson?" 

"Yes!" Melanie interjected, smacking her sandwich down on the table and making us all jump about three feet. "What's going on between you two? You guys were acting like friends or something at the game Saturday night!" 

I shrugged nonchalently, opening my yogurt container. "Probably because we are." 

"How is that possible?" Christie asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you hated his guts."

I licked the back of my yogurt spoon with disdain. "I did hate HIM. But I certainly don't recall ever mentioning anything about his guts." 

"Har har," Christie rolled her eyes, and I had to grin. 

"Jana," Beth ordered, pointing a finger at me. "Quit fooling around and tell us once and for all what is going on. I've been going out of my mind since Mel called me Saturday night, telling me you two were flirting at the game."

I bristled and shot Melanie an angry look. "We weren't FLIRTING. We were talking. I can't believe you'd even SAY anything like that, Mel!" I said turning to glare at the girl with auburn hair and blue eyes who sat across from me. "Can't YOU of all people tell the difference between friendly conversation and flirting?" 

Melanie gave me an even look. "Yes, I can. And it was flirting." She held up her hand as I opened my mouth to show she wasn't finished. "I'm not saying you were flirting with him. I never said that. I just said he was flirting with you." 

"But he wasn't!" I felt like stomping my foot. "Keith does not like me like that anymore! I know it!" 

"How do you know it?" Katie sighed, speaking up for the first time since the conversation had begun. 

"Because he wouldn't dare for one thing," I spat. "He's not stupid- he surely remembers all the trouble he caused last year, and I'm sure he knows how much I like Randy... and that nothing is going to change that! Keith just wants to be friends. I know it, and you'll see for yourself soon enough. Subject closed." 

"Whatever." Katie shrugged, and Beth mumbled something about 'old habits dying hard' into her sloppy joe. I picked up my own sandwich and bit into it furiously as Christie switched the topic of conversation over to the recent science homework. I couldn't believe that my friends were being so stubborn in seeing how my friendship really was with Keith! What did I have to do, hit them over the head or something? I hadn't even SEEN Keith since the game Saturday night! Well, minus homeroom, but I hadn't talked to him there or anything. They're probably just worried things will go like last year and people will get hurt again, I thought, trying to calm down and look at things rationally. Yes, that was all. It wasn't that they didn't trust me, they just didn't know any better yet. That Keith was more mature then last year. Or a little more mature then last year, I thought smiling to myself. I was sure he hadn't grown up or changed a whole lot over the summer, but at least he had in the respect of making friends. 

Suddenly a felt a poke in my side. It was Beth. 

"You're not mad are you?" She whispered, looking worried. "I didn't mean to make it sound like I was upset with you or anything." 

"No, I'm not mad," I assured her with a smile. 

"Good," she smiled back. "I, um, just have a hard time trusting Keith anymore. But if you think he's really not up to anything this time, then I guess you should just go on as your are. Use your own judgement or whatever." 

"Thanks, Beth," I said, touched. Beth was such a good friend. I was lucky to have someone so caring as my bff. I knew it would be hard for me if I had a nasty breakup with Randy, then he and Beth became good friends. Not like I was really *good* friends with Keith. Just friends. And things were going to stay EXACTLY like that. 

I nodded to myself, then finished the rest of my lunch. 


	8. Scott

Scott

"-so as the Romans continued to expand their territory in the Italian Peninsula..."

I leaned forward in my seat, resting my chin in my hand as I tried to focus on what Mr. Naset was saying and not fall asleep. I was in History class, my second to last class of the day, and thankfully, it was almost over. Honestly, the Roman Republic has to be one of the most boring subjects in the world. Mr. Naset wasn't one of the world's most interesting teachers either. 

Glancing around the classroom, I noticed most of the other kids were looking bored, too. Alexis Duvall and Mary Sweeney were discreetly passing notes, and behind me, I could hear Bill Soliday and Ryan Bruwer whispering. I felt like telling Bill and Ryan to be quiet, because Mr. Naset was bound to hear them if they continued like they were, but one glance at Mr. Naset told me there was no danger of that at the moment. He was on the other side of room, pointing to a map on the wall and lecturing loudly. I tuned him out again, and was right in the middle of a daydream when Mr. Naset rapped his fist on his desk for attention. 

"All right, class. We're almost out of time for today, but before the bell rings, I want to tell you about the project we're going to be working on for the next couple weeks." 

A couple kids in the class groaned out loud and I slumped back in my seat. Joy to the world, I thought sarcastically. School projects are bad enough but ones given by Mr. Naset are the worst. Not that they're necessarily SUPER hard, but they're ALWAYS totally boring. I wondered what he'd have us doing this time. 

He paused and glared around the room, waiting for silence again. When he was satisfied, he continued, walking around his desk as he talked about the presentation we'd have to give on certain important events during Roman expansion or something. 

"But, don't worry about having to do it all on your own. You're all going to be working in pairs for this one. Each pair will have a different event that we've covered in this chapter, so it'll be up to you and your partner to get your report together and work on the speech you'll give together for the rest of the class," Mr. Naset continued. I felt my body get tense. Great, this could be good or bad. Partnered projects could either be fun or terrible, depending on who you got for your partner. I hoped I'd get someone good, like Bill Soliday or Eric Silverman or even one of the girls like Alexis Duvall or Mandy McDermott wouldn't be so bad. But if I got someone like- 

"Now!" Mr. Naset broke into my thoughts again. "Here are the list of names, pay attention for the event you're team will have." I listened carefully for my name, praying silently. Then- "Scott Daly and Bill Soliday- First Punic War." 

I gave a sigh of relief and turned around to give Bill a thumbs up sign. The first punic war sounded pretty dull, but I least I wasn't stuck with someone horrible for a partner. I was starting to go off again when I heard something thatjolted me back. 

"-Jana Morgan and Keith Masterson- Second Punic War." 

I looked over at Jana who sat near the front to my right. At that momet, she turned towards Keith Masterson, who sat a row over and two rows down from me. He was looking at her and they both smiled at each other. I slid into my seat and bit my lip. Normally, I wouldn't think much of this, but it was only Saturday evening that Randy Kirwan, one of my best friends, had asked me to help him keep an eye on Keith now that Keith and Jana were friends again. I personally thought Randy was being kind of silly-I thought it was great that Jana and Keith had made up after their differences last year, and I really didn't think Keith was going to try and become 'more' with Jana. It seemed to me like he really was over the crush he'd had on her last year. Besides- he'd be stupid to pull something like that again after the mess it caused last year. 

But I had promised Randy to help watch Keith for anything suspicious, and told him I'd tell him if anything went on between them in history. And now Jana and Keith working together, alone, on a project for TWO weeks?? No, it wasn't their fault- but still- Randy wasn't going to like this a bit.


	9. Keith

Keith

Perfect, perfect, perfect! I crowed inwardly. It was the end of history class Monday afternoon and I had just found out Jana and I were going to be working on a project TOGETHER. Just the TWO of us, for two weeks!! I almost couldn't believe my good luck. I felt like, for the first time over the year or so I'd been at Wakeman, running up and giving Mr. Naset a hug. What a great teacher! 

Just then the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and I had barely gotten to my feet when Jana was standing beside me, smiling. 

"Hey, Keith. We'll have to talk about when we can get together to research and stuff. The Second Punic War's a pretty big event- we'll have to start pretty soon or we'll never get done," she said, shifting her books. 

"Er, um, yeah," I replied, feeling a slight blush creep up my face. I loved being around Jana, but it always made my head feel kind of light, and I would forget certain things for awhile. And good grief, the Second Punic War. Thank goodness she'd said that or I wouldn't have known what we were supposed to be working on. I'd kind of tuned out after Mr. Naset said our names together. 

I realized I was just standing there, stuttering like a dork, so I hurried on. "Oh, definitely. The Second Punic War is definitely a big one. We'll probably have to go to the library first." 

An amused smile spread across her face and her eyes got that kind of sparkle people get in them when they're trying not to laugh. 

"Yeah, we'll definitely have to go to the library first. Unless you have some books on the subject. I don't, but maybe I'm just weird." 

I forced a laugh, and shook my head. Boy, she must really think I'm an idiot now. Oh well, I thought. I have two whole weeks to show her I'm the most interesting, worthwhile guy at Wakeman. 

"I gotta go," she said suddenly, reaching out and touching my shoulder gently. "See you around." 

"Yeah, see you." I echoed, picking up my books off the desk, my shoulder still tingling where she'd brushed it. Almost everyone had left the classroom by now, and I realized I'd have to really hurry to get to English Lit in time. 

"Hey, Masterson. You look pysched, what's up?" Tony Sanchez asked me, when I slid into the desk next to him in Ms. Dickenson's room a few moments later. I grinned at him. 

"Nothing. We just got assigned a project in History class." 

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, there's certainly a reason to celebrate," he said sarcastically. 

"We got partners," I continued. 

Tony looked blank a minute, then he smiled. "Aha. So I take it you got someone good." 

"Yup. VERY good. For two weeks." 

"Well, who?" Tony pressed. "Hurry up, Ms. Dickenson will be starting soon." 

I glanced around to make sure none of Randy's close followers were nearby before answering. "Jana Morgan." 

Tony raised both eyebrows this time. "Well, yeah, I'd have to say she'd be a good one for a partner, but I wouldn't care WHO I was paired up with- school projects are the pits." 

I shrugged and grinned. "She's hot." 

"I'll say, but-" Tony replied, then he looked at me closer. "Wait a minute. Things are starting to click into place here. Could it be possible that you have a crush on her... still?"

I shrugged again. 

Tony groaned. "May I remind you of all the trouble that got you into last year, *and* the fact that she's dating Randy Kirwan, who in case you haven't noticed, still does not enjoy being in your company... to put it lightly. And hey, I thought she didn't like you either." 

"We made up- over the weekend," I started talking quicker, as Ms. Dickenson had just finished writing on the board. "She's 'buried the hachet', as she put it." 

"Has Randy?" Tony asked. Oh please! I thought. 

"Ha! That would be the day," I snorted, causing Sara Sawyer, who sat in front of me, to turn around and give me a weird look. I leaned closer to Tony to reply. "He hasn't, but that doesn't matter as long as she has." 

Tony frowned. "I still don't think you should try to steal his girlfriend." 

"I'm not exactly trying to... steal his girlfriend," I said slowly, trying to think of a nice way to put it. "I'm just..." 

"All right, class. Settle down," Ms. Dickenson called out before I had a chance to finish. Tony sighed again, and I leaned back in my own seat. Well, who cared what Tony thought anyway. Not like he was a saint. I didn't even want anyone's approval. I didn't need it for one thing. I would do it all on my own, whether people liked it or not. I just hoped Tony wouldn't tell Randy anything I'd said. Randy was going to be mad enough I was working with his precious Jana on the project. Oh well, I smiled. Not like he could do anything about it.


	10. Randy

Randy

"All right, you guys are done for today. Good hussle!" Coach Bledsoe yelled across the football field, then blew his whistle. I jogged towards the locker room with the rest of the football team, anxious to get a shower. It had rained last night, turning half the field to mud, which naturally ended up on all of us. Besides that, I felt like maybe I had strained one of my shoulder muscles and I wanted to get something on it before it got too bad. 

"Randy! Hi!"

My head snapped up, and I turned to see Jana walking towards me. Jana's gorgeous, and she looked especially pretty today in black jeans and a red sweater. I noticed some of the other guys filing by shooting her looks, but I didn't really care. Especially since Jana was smiling and looking straight at ME. 

"Hey, what's up?" I called back, removing my helmet and pushing my damp hair back. I knew I was a wreck, but seeing as I just came from football practice, there wasn't much I could do. 

"Nothing really, I just wanted to see if you were going to Bumpers today. I'll save you seat if you are." She smiled up at me, shifting her backpack. 

I actually hadn't been sure if I was going to Bumpers. I had a lot of reading for English Lit, plus my shoulder was really starting to throb... but there was no way I wanted to turn down Jana's offer. We both usually go to Bumpers, but most of the time she sits with her friends and I sit with mine, so we don't get to talk to much. This was a golden opportunity. 

"Definitely." I smiled back. 

"Great," she replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'll see you there in a little while, okay?" 

With a wave, she turned and headed in the direction of Bumpers. I waved back then jogged to the locker room, anxious to get my shower and change so I could get to Bumpers. When I entered the locker room, most of the guys were around their lockers, yelling and talking to each other and it took me forever to squeeze my way around everyone else to get to my locker, which just happens to be on the opposite side of the room. 

I broke a new record in shower/change time that afternoon, and had just sat down on the bench to pull my socks and shoes on, when a conversation at the end of the row of lockers caught my attention. Now there are about 50 conversations going on at one time, and, as you can imagine, it's not easy to single one out from all the others. It was only because I heard Keith's voice that I snapped to attention. He was standing at his locker, which is in the same row as mine but a few feet down, talking with Jared Nixon and Mitch Dalworth. I turned my head a little so I could hear better. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I thought for sure I had heard Keith say Jana's name. Now Jared was talking, though.

"-he's having us do those paired projects, too. It stinks. I got the dumbest subject in the world and Clarence Marshall for a partner!"

Mitch and Keith laughed. 

"Sounds like fun," Mitch chuckled. "I can almost see the grade you'll be getting." 

"A guarenteed F," Keith added with a grin, punching Jared in the arm. "Now me..."

Jared gave Keith a shove. "It's not nice to brag. Some of us don't get as lucky when it comes to partners in school projects." 

Keith laughed. "Hey, I deserve it. Jana's the first GOOD partner I've had in my history of PSP." 

I knew it! I thought and I clenched my jaw. He must be paired with Jana for some sort of school thing. Darn him, anyway. This is not good. 

"PSP?" Mitch was saying when I tuned back into their conversation. 

"Partnered School Projects." 

Jared and Mitch groaned. 

"Dude," Jared put a hand to his face. "I'll tell you right now, if you tell jokes like that, she's not going to be impressed at all. In fact, she'll probably run the other way." 

"Keith doesn't care about impressing her, though; right, Keith?" Mitch said with a laugh. "All he wants to do is get an A on their history project."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Right, right," Keith said, but I could see the gleam in his eye. He didn't mean a word of that, and it was obvious to Mitch and Jared he didn't either. They both laughed and slapped him on the back as they left the locker room. Sure, I thought bitterly. They could laugh. Jana wasn't their girlfriend. I finished tying my shoes, then grabbed my gym bag off the floor as I headed out of the locker room. What in the world was I going to do about this? Keith and Jana spending time together, alone, for a who knows how long? Any other guy, I wouldn't worry; but Keith... It couldn't be more obvious to the world that he had a mad crush on her. And this was just the chance he was waiting for. As I pushed the door open to Bumpers a few moments later, I couldn't help but wonder if Jana would still be my girlfriend at the end of the project. 


	11. Jana

Jana

"Randy!" I called, waving to my boyfriend as soon as I saw him enter Bumpers. He'd waved back and started making his way towards the bumper car I was sitting in. Geez, I thought, leaning back in the seat. He'd certainly taken his time getting here. I mean, I knew he'd have to shower and stuff after practice but I thought he might try to hurry just a LITTLE today since he knew I was saving him a seat. Beth hadn't been able to make it to Bumpers today, but Christie and Katie both did, and they'd already left. Melanie was still here somewhere, though. Probably with Shane. 

"Hi," Randy said breathlessly as he plopped down next to me in the bumper car. 

"Hey," I replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "What took you so long? I was wondering if you'd backed out on me." 

"No, I, um, was just listening to- I mean- having a conversation with someone. Yeah. And it took longer then I thought it would," he said quickly. 

I giggled and gave him a little shove. 

"Randy Kirwan, you are a terrible liar. But don't worry about it- I don't need to know where you were. All that matters is you're here now." 

Suddenly he turned and looked at me- and I mean really looked at me. Like, staring into my eyes as if searching my soul. It was really weird. 

I laughed nervously, and reached up to touch my face, feeling around for something that he might be staring at. 

"What is it?" I asked. "Do I have something on my face? Something in my eye?" 

He looked away for a minute. When he turned back at me, he almost looked upset. 

"Why didn't you tell me you were paired up with Keith Masterson?" he said suddenly. 

For a minute I was too surprised to speak. What? What in the world was he talking about? Paired up with Keith? Then I remembered... 

"Oh, yeah. In history. Yeah, we just got assigned today." I shrugged and smiled to show it was no big deal. But he still looked kind of mad, and that bothered me a little. Geez, I didn't realize it would upset him so much. I know he doesn't get along with Keith, but how am I supposed to help it if we get assigned to work on something together? The teacher picked the partners, not me. What did he expect me to do about it? And now he was mad because I didn't let him know what was going on the minute after we got assigned?? He'd never been like this before; he was acting so weird!

"Sorry for not reporting right away, Daddy," I said maybe too sarcastically. 

He frowned at me. "I didn't mean it like that, and you know it. I just thought, I dunno, that you'd tell me something like that; that I wouldn't hear it first from somebody else." 

I stiffened a little. Uh-oh. "Who did you hear it from?" 

He sighed. "Who do you think? Keith, of course. He's so thrilled I wouldn't be surprised if he gets it in tomorrow's paper." 

I rolled my eyes and glared at my feet. Great. Thanks a lot, Keith. *I* knew he was just happy we'd be getting to know each other better now that we were friends again, but he should have known Randy would take it the wrong way! Maybe I needed to have a talk with Keith. Especially if I wanted to avoid a possible fight between the two of them. I could see it now- Randy blaming Keith for flirting with me, Keith getting upset about Randy's false accusations... it could get messy. Yes, maybe it would be a good idea if I told Keith not to talk about it around Randy. 

I must have been quiet for awhile, because the next thing I knew, Randy had his arm around me and was tilting my chin up. 

"Hey," he said with a smile. "Where'd you go? Sorry if I upset you- or you know, made it sound like I was blaming you. You know I'm not mad at you. I just don't like the idea of my beautiful girlfriend being alone with that, that-" 

"Keith," I interjected, staring into Randy's blue eyes with my own brown ones. "His name is Keith. He's not a 'that'. He's a human being and he's not as bad as you make him sound. I'm not asking you to be friends, Ijust don't want you two at each other's throats. Okay? Please? For me?" I batted my eyelashes playfully until Randy laughed. He gave me a kiss then saluted. 

"Whatever you say, toots," he said with a New York accent. "Your wish is my command. I live to serve." 

"Cut it out," I giggled, punching him lightly in the arm. He was so sweet. How did I ever get such a great boyfriend? I've got to be the luckiest girl in the world. 


	12. Beth

Beth

"Jana! Wait up!" I called down the hall to Jana, who was just starting to walk away from her locker. It was Tuesday after school and kids were rushing around getting stuff out of their lockers and yelling to friends. Luckily through all the noise and bustle Jana heard me. She stopped by the water fountain and waited for me to catch up. 

"Hey, Beth," she said with a smile. "What's up?"

"Hey," I said breathlessly. "I just wanted to see if you could come over after dinner tonight. To study and stuff. We haven't done that in awhile." 

Jana's face clouded and she shook her head. 

"Sorry, I wish I could, really. But I just finished talking to Keith and we're meeting at the library at 6:30 to do some research for our project on the Second Punic War."

"Oh." It was all I could think to say.

She gave me a sympathetic smile and shifted her books. 

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "But we really have to get our research done so we can actually start working on the project. I want to get together with you, too, though. Maybe tomorrow night?" 

It was my turn to shake my head. "I can't then. My mom and I are going to the mall. Oh well. Don't worry about it." I forced a smile. "We'll figure some time out." 

She gave me a big smile and a quick hug. "Thanks, Beth. You're the best. I gotta run, ok? I want to get the rest of my homework done before going to the library. I don't know how long we'll be there tonight. Tell the others at Bumpers I said 'hi'." 

"Sure." I nodded and gave a little wave as she turned and disappeared down the hall and out the front door. 

I sighed as I got my jacket out of my own locker, and headed for Bumpers. Like I said before, it didn't bother me that Jana was friends with Keith. Not in the sense that I was jealous anyway. I didn't care for Keith at ALL anymore. Really. 

I was just worried about Jana. I knew Keith better then her- I dated him for over a year, remember. He was a smooth-talker; he could talk his way into or out of anything. If he really did still like Jana, there was a good chance he'd get what he wanted. Especially since Jana was unsuspecting. Does that make sense? Probably not. I wasn't even making sense to myself. All I knew was that I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. 

I sighed again as I pushed the door open to Bumpers. Oh well. I really couldn't do much about it. I'd done all I could- I'd warned Jana that Keith had a crush on her. What else *could* I do? I couldn't try to keep them apart. Especially since they were working together for school. 

I guess nature will just have to take its course. And who knows? Maybe Keith does just want to be friends. Maybe I'm just being a stupid worrywart.


	13. Keith

Keith

"Well, which do you prefer? Looking up the books on the Second Punic War and having me write down possible choices, or vise versa?" Jana asked, stopping in front of one of the library's computers. 

It was Tuesday evening and Jana and I had just arrived at the library to do some research for our project. It was finally just the two of us with no one else from school around- at least that I could see- and I was planning to get some major flirting in. I had seen Jana and Randy sitting together at Bumpers the day before, talking and *kissing*, and it had almost made me barf right then and there. Who cares that they're going together... Jana should be kissing me. 

I grinned at her and slid into the seat in front of the computer. 

"Ah, let me do the typing, my dear. It's my speciality." 

She laughed and she took the seat next to me. "Oh really? I wasn't aware of this talent. Well, Mr. Amazing Typer, let's see some action." She paused a moment and leaned back in her seat, tapping her pencil on her notebook while I started typing. Then she said "Wouldn't it be cool if we found all the books we needed tonight and then just had to take notes and write everything up?"

I turned from the computer and feigned a hurt look. 

"What, you trying to speed things up? You just don't want to be around me more then you have to, huh?" 

She laughed and punched me in the arm. 

"That's not it and you know it. Anyway, just because we might get our research books tonight doesn't mean we'll be close to finishing. We'll still have to get together to take notes and everything."

"I know," I said with a nod. "I know what you meant. I know you live to spend time with a wonderful person like me." 

She shook her head and sighed and I laughed. Then grinning, she leaned forward in her seat to see the screen better. 

"Did you find anything yet?" She asked. 

"Umm, yeah, I think I'm, uh, on the right track," I said quickly, trying to concentrate on something other then the fact that her face was only a few inches from mine. 

"Yeah, I think you are. But maybe instead of looking up Medieval Wars, we should look up Punic Wars. Medieval Wars might be too broad. Here, we'll just go over here and type in..." she reached across me and put her hand on top of mine of the mouse. She clicked on the subject box and then removed her hand to type. Even though her hand was only on mine for a few seconds, I still felt a hundred little spiders run up and down my spine. And her hair was practically in my face... not that I cared. It smelled really good and-

"--better, huh? Keith?" 

Jana's voice jumped me back the present so fast I bounced in my seat. "Uhh..." What had she been asking me about?

Jana leaned back and looked at me with a puzzled expression. 

"Hey, are you okay? You've been acting really weird."

I quickly turned on a confident smile. 

"Are you kidding? I'm fine." 

"Glad to hear it- cause you're starting to scare me." She giggled. 

I shrugged and grinned. 

"I scare everybody." 

"That's true," she nodded, her eyes sparkling. 

I gave her a shove. "You're not supposed to agree!" Then I laughed. "No, seriously. I'm fine. I just, um, have some other things on my mind." 

At the serious tone in my voice, she gave me a concerned look.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked. 

Oh, geez! I thought, turning back to the computer so she couldn't see my flaming face. How could I tell her SHE was what I had on my mind? I'd rather die. No, there were other trails to a girl's heart. 

"No, no. That's okay. It's not that important." 

She laughed knowingly. "Something with football, right? It happens with Randy. Sometimes I lose him whenever he's thinking about ways to improve his game. It's okay, I'm used to it." 

"I'm sure he thinks about you more," I said without thinking myself. 

Jana gave me a weird look and immediatly I wished I could take it back. How dumb! Why did I say that, anyway? 

"Um, it looks like your search worked. There's a lot of titles here," I said quickly, to change the subject. 

Immediatly Jana forgot what I had said and began copying down books and their call numbers into her notebook, while I looked on and scrolled down when she needed it. As she finished, I reviewed my current situation. So far, the evening was not going as planned. My goal was for her to see that I was the coolest boy in the school- unlike a certain someone she was dating right now. And so far, all I had accomplished was making her believe I was a big idiot! I discreetly glanced at my watch. It was only 5 to 7. I still had a little bit of time to impress her since we still had to find the books. 

But that plan was thwarted when Jana pulled the sheet of notebook paper out that she had written everything on, ripped it in half, and handed me one side. 

"Here," she said, standing up. "I split the titles in half so we can accomplish more in a shorter time." 

I stood up, too, and made a face at her. "I still think you're trying to get away from me." 

She laughed. "Not at all. I just still need to take a shower tonight, and I don't really want to go to bed with wet hair." 

"Girls and their showers," I said with a mock sigh.

"Oh, please," she giggled and shook her head, then started walking towards the section that held most of the historical books. I watched her for a minute, thinking for the millionth time how sweet and cute she was. I HAD to win her over, I just HAD to! But what could I do? We didn't have much time left tonight. Oh well. We still had all those times where we'd have to get together to take notes and everything. I would get her then. I would! How.... I wasn't sure yet. But I knew I'd think of something. I always did. 


	14. Randy

Post-It Note Stuck on Jana's Door Tuesday Night

6:30- Randy called, call him back when you get home

7:00- Randy called again, call him back when you get home

8:00- same as above 

Randy

"Randy, are you looking for something to do? Because if you are, I'm sure I could find something," my mom said with a sigh, as she looked up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table, going through some papers from work. 

"Nope, not me," I said quickly, as I grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and started polishing it on my shirt. 

"Well, you certainly are restless enough. This is what? Your eighth, ninth visit to the kitchen since dinner? Is something going to happen that I don't know about?" She still sounded exasperated, but she was also smiling, so I knew she wasn't mad. 

I laughed. "No, not really. I guess I'm just antsy." I took a bite of my apple and leaned against the counter, then glanced at the clock. 20 minutes after 8... was Jana ever going to call me back? I sure wasn't going to call her house again; I had already called three times and I know her mom was probably sick of picking up the phone and hearing me asking, 'is Jana there?' I wondered where Jana was. She'd been gone all night. All her mom said was, 'I'm sorry, she's not home right now. May I take a message?' Heck, maybe it hadn't even been her mom; maybe it was the answering machine I kept getting since she always said the same thing. I sighed. All I wanted was to talk to Jana for awhile! Not even about anything special. Just talk. I looked at the clock again. 8:23.

"Is there a bomb going off at 8:30, Randy?" My mom asked with a chuckle. I made a face at her, then headed towards the basement door. 

"I think I'll go down and get on the Playstation for awhile, okay?" 

"Did you finish your homework?" My mom asked, shuffing a few papers. 

"Yup," I replied with a nod and a big smile. I was very excited about that. Usually my homework takes me a lot longer, but there hadn't been very much tonight. Amazingly. 

"Let Heidi in first, would you please? She's been outside for awhile," Mom added, not looking up from her work. I walked to the front door and opened it, whistling for Heidi, our keeshond, who came running towards me from somewhere in the backyard. 

"Hey, baby, did you think we forgot you, huh?" I opened the door, and she ran in and down the hall to the living room. I shook my head as I headed for the basement. Heidi is pretty much my shadow, unless my dad is watching TV in the living room. Then Heidi glues herself next to him on the couch and begs for some of whatever he's eating.

As I trotted down the stairs to the gameroom, my mind switched back to Jana's not calling, and it crossed my mind that Jana was most likely at the house of one of her Fab Five friends. I made a face at that. Great, if she was, she could be there all night. I turned on the light in the gameroom and walked over to the Playstation. The gameroom is my favorite room in the house, well, next to my bedroom, I guess, because we have a pool table, Playstation, computer, TV and VCR, stereo and a lot of other cool stuff in it. When I have friends over, we usually spend most of our time in the gameroom. 

I was soon intent on my game, and I didn't even hear the phone ring at 8:45. But I did hear my mom call down the stairs to let me know I had a call. I paused my game and picked up the receiver that we have downstairs. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey, Randy! It's Jana." 

I smiled and leaned against the wall. "Hey, back." 

"I got your messages, and I'm sorry to call back so late," she said apologetically. "But I just got back from the library." 

"Oh, really?" I said, moving to the couch to sit down. "Wow, you were there for awhile, huh?" 

"Yeah," she kind of hestitated. "I was doing research for the history project." 

"What project is-" then I stopped as it hit me. Keith. She was doing the history project with Keith. I had to bite my lip from groaning out loud. Let's see, my first phone call to her was at 6:30, and she had just gotten back and it was almost 9 o'clock. She had been alone with Keith for 2 and half hours. Gross. 

"Did you have fun?" I said sarcastically. "I know what a big ball of excitement Keith is." 

I heard Jana sigh on the other end of the line. "Well, it wasn't what I would call *fun* exactly, but it wasn't really horrible either, I guess. He was acting kind of weird for awhile, but he was okay by the end of the evening." 

"'Kind of weird''? Like 'coming onto you' kind of weird?" I asked, rolling my eyes. 

"Coming onto me?" She repeated almost incredulously. "What are you talking about? Of course he wasn't coming onto me! I told you, we're only friends." 

"Oh, yeah, that's right, I'm sorry. It's just that every time I look at Keith, he's staring at you drooling, so I guess I just keep thinking he likes you or something." More sarcasm. I was going to have to watch it or Jana was going to hang up on me. 

"Will you stop with that?" Jana groaned. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you. Keith is not hitting on me. Don't you think I would notice if he was?" 

Not really, I thought to myself. Jana is so wrapped up in the 'we're only friends' thing, that she kind of tends to rule out the fact that Keith was practically obsessed with her last year and certainly hadn't gotten over it so fast. 

"I just wish you would stop ragging me about it," she continued. "You don't have to worry! Nothing it going to happen. You're my main man! You know that!" 

"Yeah, but I would appreciate it if you informed Keith on that point," I teased. When she sighed again, I decided I needed to give an example so she could see my point. "Look at it this way, Jana. Would you be happy if I were doing a two week project with Laura McCall? Hmm?" 

Laura McCall is another girl in our class and she and Jana aren't exactly what you would call friends. I guess you could say they are like Keith and me, only they fight more. Keith and I just keep out of each other's way. Anyway, Jana was always getting mad at me last year because she thought Laura and I were always flirting. One time last November, Jana even thought Laura and I liked each other, and then we had a fight about it in front of Bumpers and she ran in front of a car. It ended up that I pushed Jana out of the way and got hit myself. I was in a coma for awhile, and I had some broken ribs which hurt like the dickens, so I wouldn't say the experience was particularly fun. But I love Jana and if we ever got into another situation like that, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Yet, even after all that, Jana still freaks out if Laura so much as says 'hi' to me. I wonder if I'm going to have to sacrifice myself one of these days to prove my love or what. 

"That's different," Jana said finally, with a little giggle. "Laura is the Queen of Evil. I'd have a right to be upset if you guys were doing something together because she doesn't have a heart, so there'd be no telling what she'd do." 

"Yeah, sure," I replied. "And Keith does? Whatever. In my opinion-" 

"Ok, ok!" Jana laughed. "I get your point, and I can see what you're getting at. But there's not like any other choice, Randy. I didn't ask Mr. Naset to pair us up! I thought we went through this already." 

"I know," I sighed. "Sorry. Let's talk about something else." 

"Ok, sounds good to me. What did you call me about in the first place anyway?" 

"Nothing special," I shrugged. "I just wanted to talk. Oh yeah, and see if you could come over sometime this week. Like, after dinner to study and hang out." 

"Sure!" Jana agreed happily. "That'd be fun. I'd like to do that. What night?" 

"Um, Thursday?" I hadn't asked my mom yet, but I'm sure she wouldn't care. She loves Jana and it's not like she's any trouble. We pretty much stay in the gameroom the whole time anyway. 

"Let me check with my mom, but that should be okay. Keith and I are taking notes Thursday after school, but that would be in the afternoon, not in the evening. Hold on a sec." 

While she checked with her mom, I stretched out on the couch. It stunk that she would be with Keith in the afternoon, but I would get her all evening, so that was cool. If she was allowed to come.

"Randy? My mom says that fine." 

"Cool. It's a date then?" 

"Yup. Hey, I hate to have to say bye so soon, but I have to get a shower yet tonight. I'll talk to you at school tomorrow, though." 

"Yeah, sure. " I replied. 

"Great. Hey, Randy?" 

"What?" 

"You're my number one, you know that, right?"

"Of course, I just like to hear you say it," I grinned.

"Silly," She laughed. "Ok, I gotta go. Luv ya, bye." 

"Luv ya, too. Bye." 

After we hung up, I lay on the couch for awhile, thinking. It was great to be reassured that Jana still felt the same about me. And that she was really just interested in Keith as a friend. And that if Keith came on to her, she would ignore it. That should make me really happy and confident. So why was the bad feeling still there?


	15. Scott

Scott

"Hey, Randy! Mark! Wait up!" I yelled down the hall to my best friends. They had been standing by the water fountain and were now starting to move on. But when they heard my voice they paused and turned around. 

"Hey, Daly!" Mark greeted me, and Randy gave me a high five. 

"What's up, man?" Randy asked. 

"Hey, I was just wondering if you guys want to shoot hoops in the court this evening behind the school. A bunch of guys are going to come, it should be fun," I said. 

"Cool! Count me in!" Mark cried. Mark plays all the sports, too, but unlike Randy and me, his favorite is not football, but basketball. 

"Sounds good to me, too." Randy nodded. "I don't have anything planned this evening." 

"Not even with Ja-na?" Mark teased and Randy made a face at him, then grinned.

"Nooo," he said. "That's tomorrow night." 

"Oo la la," Mark wiggled his eyebrows and I laughed. Mark is a big tease, almost as big a tease as I am, and his favorite thing in the world is to josh Randy about Jana. It doesn't bother Randy at all, though. 

"Who all else is coming?" Randy asked, changing the subject, as we walked towards the front door. 

"Um," I tried to remember. "Soliday, Cochran, Corrierro, Kingman, Travelstead.. uh, let's see. Oh, and maybe Keith and Tony Sanchez." 

Randy stuck his tongue out and Mark gave him a weird look. 

"What was that for?" he demanded. 

"Haven't you heard?" I asked, giving Mark a surprised look. Then I turned to Randy. "You didn't tell him?" 

"Tell me what?" Mark asked. "Are you having a feud with Tony and Keith that I didn't know about?" 

Randy shook his head. "Not Tony. Just Keith. Well, I don't know if you'd call it a feud. I'm just annoyed with him, that's all." 

Mark snickered. "Tell me something I don't know already."

"More to it then that," I added, when Randy didn't continue. "Randy's mad 'cuz Jana and Keith are doing a history project together and they have to spend lots of time together working on it.... alone." 

"Oooh," Mark grinned. "So Randy is jealous? Are you worried that Keith is going to steal your girl?" 

"It's not a joke, Peters." Randy snapped. "For your information Keith is majorly after Jana right now." 

"Get real, Randy," Mark laughed. "Jana wouldn't go for him! She hates his guts!" 

"What?" Randy gave Mark an annoyed look. "No, she doesn't. They made up almost a week ago. Geez, I thought that was all over school. Have you been in a coma since Saturday? And anyway, you were at the game Saturday night- remember seeing Keith flirting with Jana?" 

"Whoa!" Mark held up his hands. "Don't bit my head off! Exxccuuseee me. But now that you mention it, I do remember Keith talking to her at the game. But I didn't think they were really flirting.. er, he was flirting with her." 

"Man, you are so diluded." Randy shook his head. 

Mark looked at him, almost in shock. I think he was really surprised at how upset Randy was. Mark looked at me and raised his eyebrows and I shrugged. 

"Well, anyway, I don't think you should be worried," Mark said quickly, catching up with Randy's stride. "Keith may have the hots for Jana, but I'm sure she only likes him as a friend. She's really into you- you know that." 

Randy shrugged. "Maybe. For awhile. But at the end of this whole history project..." 

"Get real, bro," I said, slapping him on the back. "You know nothing will happen. Jana's just a sweet person. Of course she'll be nice to him. But I know how much she likes you, too. Man, I've seen her look at you when you aren't looking at her. You AREN'T going to lose her. I know it." 

Randy sighed, and pushed open the doors to go outside. 

"I hope you guys are right." 

"Of course we're right! We're your best friends! Have we ever been wrong? Don't answer that." Mark said heartily, putting his arm around Randy's shoulders. "Now, let's march our way over to Bumpers and have ourselves a nice big cold one. My treat, if you guys will lend me some money." 


	16. Jana

Jana

"--so you're going to the movies with him this Friday?" Melanie Edwards asked Shawnie Pendergast. (The 'him' referring to Taylor Jordan.) The four of us- Mel, Shawnie, Dekeisha Adams and I- were all heading to Bumpers after cheering practice, and talking about our plans for the weekend at the same time. 

"Yeah," Shawnie nodded, pulling the rubber band from her blonde ponytail and then fluffing her hair. "I mean, I don't want to go steady with him or anything, but he's nice so I thought, why not? It should be fun. Are all of you guys going?" 

Dekeisha shook her head, slinging her gym bag over her shoulder. "I'm not. I'm going to the movies Saturday night instead, with Don Petry." 

"Ooohh, Don Petry," we all teased, making Dekeisha laugh. Dekeisha and Don Petry dated on and off last year, but this year, they've started going steady. Which I think is really cool. Don's neat, and he and Dekeisha look really cute together. 

"I'm going with Shane tomorrow night," Melanie spoke up with a big smile. Then she looked at me as we turned up the street to Bumpers. "What about you, Jana?" 

I was just opening my mouth to reply when someone called my name from behind. We all turned around to see Keith Masterson jogging to catch up with us. 

"Jana! Wait up! I have to talk to you!" He cried. 

I stopped, shifting my backpack and gymbag. I could feel the other girls looking at me and each other, and I knew what they were thinking. No matter how hard I tried to tell everyone Keith doesn't like me 'like that' anymore, I know they don't believe me. And this was all I needed... him calling out to me in public. 

"Why don't you guys go ahead," I said quickly, turning back to them. "You can find us a booth to sit in. I'll be along in a minute, I promise."

"Sure," Shawnie said quickly, glancing quickly between Keith and I. Then she grabbed Dekeisha's arm and they started back down the street. Melanie paused a minute, looking like she was going to say something else, but Keith had almost caught up by now, so she just gave me a quick nod, then followed Shawnie and Dekeisha. 

"Thanks for waiting, Jana," Keith said breathlessly as he slowed to a stop next to me. I smiled and shrugged. 

"Sure, no problem. What's up?" 

"Um," he said taking another breath, "I just wanted to ask if it would be okay if we met tomorrow NIGHT instead of tomorrow AFTERNOON. I forgot I have a dentist appointment right after school. Would the evening be okay with you?" 

I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, that would be fine." Then I giggled. "I'm sorry you have to go to the dentist." 

He laughed. "It's just a checkup. No cavities getting filled or anything." Then he gave a big macho grin. "Not like I have cavaties." 

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed. 

"Ok, well, I gotta run. I'll see you tomorrow night, then? At my house still?" He asked, starting to back away. 

"Yup," I started to nod again, when suddenly I remembered something and clapped my hand over my mouth. Randy! I couldn't go to Keith's to work on the project tomorrow night, because I had plans with Randy! 

"What's wrong?" Keith asked, giving me a puzzled look. 

I slapped my forehead with the heel of my hand. "Argh, sorry, I forgot! Tomorrow night won't work for me. I'm going to Randy's to study." 

Keith frowned a little and tilted his head. "Are you guys working on a project, too?"

"No..." I looked away for a minute. "We're just going to study homework and stuff." 

"Oh." Keith frowned deeper. 

I bit my lip. I knew what he was thinking. It wasn't really as important for me to go to Randy's as it was to get together with Keith- Randy and I were just meeting for fun... Keith and I had a deadline to meet. But I couldn't just cancel out on Randy. I almost groaned out loud at the thought of telling Randy I couldn't come to his house because I was going to Keith's. He'd be furious. Even though I really didn't have much choice. Keith and I HAD to get notes for our report this week! Unless....

"What about tonight?" I asked quickly. "Could we meet tonight instead?"

Keith thought a minute, then shook his head. "No, sorry. I'm going with my parents somewhere. And Friday night I might be going out of town." 

I tried really hard not to cross my eyes with frustration. I was trapped. I knew I had to put my schoolwork before pleasure. Especially a team project. If it were just a project on my own, I could put it off another night. But Keith and I were working together, so if I blew our report off, then I was messing things up for him. I couldn't do that. 

"Ok, then," I sighed finally. "We'll meet tomorrow night. At your house, around...?" 

"7 o'clock. Is that ok with you?" Then he raised his eyebrows. "Randy won't be upset, will he?" 

I shook my head, even though I was pretty sure he would be. "Randy will understand, it's ok. I'll talk to him. And 7's fine for me." 

"Great," he smiled. "See you then. And thanks, Jana. I hated having to change things around, but my mom couldn't reschedule my appointment..." 

I tried to grin. "That's ok. I wouldn't expect her to. Bye, Keith." 

"Bye." And he disappeared down the street. 

I slowly walked towards Bumpers, deep in thought. My friends would be wondering why I was taking so long, but I didn't care. I had other things to think about. Like what I should tell Randy. I mean, I was going to tell him the truth; I just needed to figure out WHAT exactly I was going to say. He'd understand because it was a school project, but he'd be mad I'd be spending the evening with Keith instead of him. 

I sighed with annoyance. Why did I have to get Keith for my partner anyway? I thought, pushing Bumpers's front door open. Like my life wasn't complicated enough before. 


	17. Randy

Randy

"Randy! Telephone!" My mom called up the stairs. "It's Jana."

"Coming!" I called back, rolling off my bed where I'd be doing science homework. I felt like I'd been slaving away at it forever, so a break was definitely welcome. Especially talking to Jana. 

I walked down the hall and picked up the phone in my parent's room. 

"I've got it up here!" I shouted downstairs to my mom, then pushed the on button of their cell phone. "Hello, Jana?" 

"Hi, Randy," she replied, and I noticed right away she didn't sound like her usual cheerful self. I braced myself for bad news. 

"So, what's up?" I asked. "You sound kind of upset." 

"I am upset," she sighed, and I could hear her flop down on her bed in the backround. "Listen, I have to cancel out on our date for tomorrow."

"OK," I said slowly, leaning back on my mom's dresser. That was a total bummer, because I'd really been looking forward to it, but at least she wasn't mad at ME or anything. I'd been worried for a minute that she was upset over something I did unknowingly. I knew she was waiting for me to say something else, so I quickly added, "It's alright, Jana. Things come up, I understand that." 

I heard her sigh again. "Yeah, things come up, alright. Listen, I'm not going to beat around the bush with you- I'm going to Keith's instead. He came up to me today after cheering practice and asked if we could meet tomorrow night instead of tomorrow afternoon. He said he had a dentist appointment after school that he couldn't reschedule. I DID try to rearrange things so he and I could meet tomorrow night or Friday, but neither of those worked for him." She hesitated slightly, then added, "Anyway, I thought I'd tell you everything before you heard it from HIM or something." 

There was silence as I took a minute to let what she said sink in. Then I felt the anger I was starting to put together with Keith's name lately wash over me . Please! Like fun Keith had a dentist appointment. He probably just figured that the afternoon wasn't a long enough time period to get all his flirting in, so he made up some lie to get her to come in the evening when they could have more time. And I'm REAL sure he wasn't unavailable tonight and Friday. After he found out Jana was supposed to come to MY place tomorrow night, he probably made sure she wouldn't be able to. I almost said that to Jana, but thankfully thought better of it. Cool it, Randy. I told myself. It's not like it was Jana's idea. And it is after all, possible that Keith IS telling the truth. Maybe. Possibly. Though, really, almost completely unlikey. 

But I had to be careful what I said to Jana. If I started getting all sarcastic and stuff again and cutting on her new buddy, she might get really mad at ME. Easy does it. 

"Um, ok, well, I appreciate that," I said finally, shifting my weight and biting my lip. "I mean, I appreciate you telling me. And... it's cool and everything because I realize it was last minute and um, couldn't be avoided. I mean, helped."

There was a pause, then: "Oh, Randy!" Jana cried suddenly, and she sounded positively joyful. "OMG, I love you so much! I mean it, you are so totally sweet!" 

"Um, thanks," I said confused. 

She laughed. "I mean, I can't believe how understanding you're being! Here I was, like, totally worried you'd be really upset over me going to Keith's house instead of yours and spending the evening with him, and you're being so cool about it!" 

I rolled my eyes. Well, when she put it THAT way, it certainly made me feel like being a lot less 'understanding'. If she only knew everything I WASN'T saying... I tuned back to the present when I realized she was talking again.

"--appreciate it sooo much! I mean, I feel so much better. And you and I will get together soon, ok? I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"Sure, whenever." 

"Great. I gotta go, my mom needs the phone. I'll see you at school tomorrow, ok? And Randy, thanks again for being so good about this. I really thought you'd be mad at me for cancelling on you for Keith. Not that we're having a fun date or anything. Strictly taking notes on the Second Punic War." She giggled. "Which, might I add, is a really boring topic." 

I forced a laugh, too, refusing to let myself think of Jana and Keith together all evening. 

"I'll talk to you later. Luv ya!" She said sounding like her usual happy self. 

"OK, ditto!" I replied trying to match her enthusiasm, then hung up. What a mess, I thought, as I trudged back to my bedroom. If only things could have stayed like they were with Keith and Jana hating each other. (As horrible of me as that sounds.) Then I wouldn't be worried that Keith was trying to steal my totally naive, yet extremely wonderful, girlfriend away, and wouldn't have to struggle with trying not to let Jana get annoyed at me. I crossed my eyes at the remembrance of her words, 'and you're being so cool about it!' I guess I must sound a lot more convincing to her then I do to herself.


	18. Keith

Keith

Clean shirt, check. Hair neat, check. Teeth clean, (well, duh, I'd just had a dentist appointment earlier today), check. Cologne, check. I bit my bottom lip as I stood in front of the mirror that stood on my dresser, going through a quick check of my appearance. It was Thursday evening and Jana would be arriving any minute to work on the history thingy. It was extremely important for me to look my best, even though I wasn't really planning on hitting on Jana or anything in front of my parents. I snorted as I ran a brush through my hair again. Not like they'd notice anyway if I did flirt with her. They are kind of oblivious to that sort of thing. For instance, when I went out with Beth Barry last year, they didn't even realize we were going steady until I broke up with her! OK, slight exaggeration, but really not THAT far off. They just seemed to think I dated a few different girls, and for some reason Beth was the only one who came over sometimes. Really, my parents aren't that interested in my life, I guess. Well, besides the things they consider important. For my dad, it's sports. He's the one who pushed me towards getting into sports when I was younger. Not like I've ever regretted playing football or anything. I love athletic stuff. But sometimes I wish he wasn't so serious about it. Geez, I'm only 14 and I don't really think I need to be concentrating on getting a football scholarship for college yet. And my mom... she comes to my games sometimes, too, but what *she* really keeps track of are my grades. She seems to believe I could do sports all year round and still make high honor roll if I wanted to. Well, I don't want to, and even if did, I don't see that being possible. It's way too hard to get perfect grades and still make every sports commitment. Not that I'm a bad student. I'm not straight A's, but I'm not below average either. So why can't she just get off my back? 

"Doorbell, Keith! It's probably your friend," my mom called suddenly from somewhere downstairs, breaking through my thoughts. 

"Ok, mom. Just a sec," I shouted back, glancing at the clock beside my bed. 6:59. Not bad! Jana was pretty punctual. I checked my appearance once more in the mirror, and deciding I looked good, I left my room and trotted down the stairs to the front door. On the way, I passed my dad who was sitting in the den watching TV, and he looked up at me as I walked by and frowned. 

"You better hurry, Keith. It's not very polite to leave your guest standing outside for so long." 

"I AM hurrying, Dad," I replied, giving him an annoyed look. 

"Don't get smart with me, young man," he snapped. Then he sighed loudly and shook his head. "Who is this coming over again and disrupting our entire evening?" 

"Jana Morgan-" I started, but, of course, he didn't let me finish.

"And that means what to me?" 

"Dad!" I groaned. "You *know* who she is! We've gone to school together since kindergarten. Remember? You've seen her a bunch of times before." I started to say she was Beth Barry's best friend, but realized that probably wouldn't have meant much to him either. "And that's not fair to say she's going to be disrupting the whole evening by coming over. We're not going to be bothering you and Mom at all! We have a lot of work to do on our history project." 

"Which you'll work on in the KITCHEN," he said sternly, and I crossed my eyes, starting for the door again. Like, DUH, we'd be studying in the kitchen. Where did he think we'd go? Up to my room? Honestly. I'm not *that* stupid.

"Bring her in here first, Keith, so I can see if she's suitable," he commanded. I stomped down to the front door, annoyed almost to a point of bursting. Suitable? Please. He acted like she was some hooligan off the street or someone from a strip club. 

I took a deep breath before opening the door, and reminded myself to smile. I had to be my best tonight, especially if my dad was rude to Jana. I didn't want her to think I had a wicked witch for my father, even though, yeah, he was pretty harsh most of the time. I tried to remember exactly what Randy's parents were like. I had only met them a few times- mostly just seen them at our sports games. I had only been to Randy's house probably twice, and usually only his mom was there. She was nice, but then so was my mom, really. Mom did get on my nerves when she bugged me about my grades, but she really was a great mom. Now my dad, I could think of a hundred ways to improve him. And, like I said, I don't know Randy's dad well at all, but from what I've seen, the only thing he and my dad have in common is how excited they get at our football and basketball games. 

I remembered suddenly that Jana was still standing outside, and I felt my cheeks flush. Geez, what if she thought no one was home? I'd die if she left and went back to her own house. I flung the door open and looked out. OMG! She did leave! I thought frantically, when I didn't see her standing there. 

"Keith! There you are!" 

I whirled to my right and saw her sitting on one of the chairs on our porch, petting my mom's cat, Bubba (or as Dad and I refer to it, "Blubba", due to its extensive weight). She still had on the blue shirt and jeans she had worn to school earlier, except now her hair was in two braids, which is a style I don't usually like (can we say Dorothy?), but actually looked cute on her. 

"Oh, hi! Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just-" I said quickly, taking a step towards her. She held her hand up and stood, hoisting her backpack to her shoulder. 

"Don't worry, it's okay. Your cat and I got a chance to bond," she giggled, giving Bubba one last pat. "He's such a nice cat." 

I tried not to laugh. "Oh, yeah, right. What a sweetheart," I said sarcastically. 'Blubba' is NOT a nice cat. He may let you pet him, but if you actually look in his eyes, you can see he's really just waiting for a chance to take a bite out of your leg. My dad said if he didn't love my mom, that cat would have been gone a LONG time ago. He had once threatened to tie Bubba to the wheels of the car and run it over, but I think he just said that at the time cause he was mad about having to get stitches. I can still hear him ranting... "Stiches! For a cat bite! NO ONE gets stictches from a cat bite! *Especially* not John Masterson!" I guess I couldn't blame him, though. I'd never live it down with my friends if I had to go to the hospital to get treated for a wound from a house cat.

Jana looked from me to Bubba and laughed. "Well, I think he is. He's really pretty, too." 

Now I KNEW she was lying. Anyone who thinks Bubba is a pretty cat either has never seen another cat before or needs to get their eyes checked. But at any rate, it was time to leave the cat alone and go inside. It was really getting cold, and I felt terrible that Jana had been sitting out in the wind for 15 minutes while my dad and I had a spat. 

"Well, you're one of the precious few to think that," I laughed. "Be sure to tell my mom. She'll love you to the day you die if you say something nice about her cat." I opened the door and motioned for Jana to go in. She smiled and walked past me into the foyer. 

"We'll work in the kitchen," I told her, taking her coat and hanging it on the coat stand by the door. "But first, you can meet my parents. You haven't before, have you?" 

She tilted her head to the side. "Um, I don't think. Not really anyway."

"OK, well, I don't know where my mom is, but my dad's in here," I said, motioning to the den. My dad was watching TV when we stepped into the room and at first he pretended not to notice us. Finally, I cleared my throat and he looked over at us. 

"Yes? Oh, is this your friend, Keith? Jane or something?" He asked, not coldly, but not really very cordially. 

"Close," Jana said, before I could open my mouth to correct him. "I'm Jana. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Masterson." 

He raised his eyebrows a little as she stepped forward to shake his hand, giving him one of her most charming smiles. 

"Well," he said. "It's nice to meet you, too, young lady. I hear you and my son have a lot of work to do on some school project." 

She nodded. "Yes, we have a pretty good bit to do. But we're both ready to work hard, so I think we'll do fine." 

"Yes," my dad nodded slowly. "Keith is a hard worker, when he wants to be." I felt my face flush and I looked at the floor. Geez, he was so embarrassing. "But you look like just the type to spur him on to his goals, so I know I can expect this project to be a success. Now, run along, you two." My dad finished curtly, turning back to his TV program.

Jana smiled again and we left the room and headed for the kitchen. Once she had put her backpack down on the table, I said in a low voice, "Sorry about that." 

She looked puzzled. "About what?" 

"About, well, my dad. He can be really strict sometimes." 

She shrugged. "A lot of people are like that. It's nothing to be sorry about. It's just the way he is. " 

I stared at her. She was really serious. 

"I guess," I said slowly, then turned to grab my books off the counter where I had set them earlier. 

She gave me a smile and sat down in one of the chairs. As she started unloading her backpack, I grabbed another chair. Then I stood back up again. 

"Want something to drink before we get started?" 

"Sure," she laughed. "Preferably something with a high sugar content. We have a lot of work ahead of us." 

***

"See you at school tomorrow," I said, waving to Jana as she walked down the stairs to the car where her stepdad was waiting. 

"OK," She replied, giving me a quick wave back. "Thanks for the drinks, and tell your mom again I really enjoyed the apple cake!" 

"I will," I laughed, and then closed the door as Jana got into her car. 

I glanced at the hall clock as I headed down the hall. Wow. Almost 10 o'clock. Jana and I really HAD been working a long time. But we'd gotten a lot done- surprising, as we'd spent half the time talking. And then around 8:30 my mom came in and offered us some apple cake as a refreshment. My dad came in then, too, and I had braced myself for another embarrassment, but he was actually very polite and, somehow, he and Jana got into a discussion on puns and started sharing the ones they knew with each other, which I thought was pretty funny. (My 40-year-old dad and 14 year old Jana reciting puns to each other is not a sight to be seen everyday.) One of my dad's weird quirks is his interest in puns and he's always either trying to find new ones or make them up himself. I hadn't known that Jana liked them, too, but apparently she did, and she knew a couple he'd never heard. I'm one of those people who don't think puns are real humor, but my dad does, and Jana really had him cracking up on some of them. It was cool to see my dad laughing like that, because he doesn't very often.

I felt almost completely happy as I made my way towards the stairs. Maybe Jana hadn't fallen in love with me yet, but I was sure she was getting to like me better, now that we were talking and starting to get to know one another. I'd heard a lot of rumors after the incident last year that she thought I was one of the biggest, most egotistical jerks in the entire school. That had burned me up at first, until I realized she didn't have much reason to like me, as she really didn't KNOW me. And now that we were finally becoming good friends, I was sure she didn't think I was such a big loser anymore. 

"Did your friend leave, Keith?" Mom asked as I passed through the den. Dad was watching TV again, and mom was sitting on the sofa reading the paper. 

"Yeah, she just left," I replied. 

"Well, she was certainly a very nice girl," my mom smiled. "Why haven't we been properly introduced to her before, honey?" 

"Oh, well," I stumbled. "We're just becoming better friends. I mean, I've gone to school with her forever, but we weren't as close as we are now." Not like we WERE really close, I guess. 

My dad looked at me sharply. "Are you dating her?"

I shook my head. "No." I wish. 

"Why not?" 

I looked at him in surprise. My dad's never been against me going out with girls, but he's never actually pushed it or even suggested it before. Wow, she must really have made a good impression on him. 

"She dates someone else," I said finally. "Randy Kirwan, you know who that is." 

My dad instantly frowned. "Oh, right. The quarterback on your football team." 

I bit back a smile. I forgot about my dad not being too fond of Randy. See, my dad was quarterback every year he played football growing up, and I think he always figured his son would be quarterback, too. So when he found out that Randy is our team's quarterback, it really annoyed him, as if Randy had stolen that title from me. Not like *I* actually care about it. Quarterback is NOT a position I want to play. 

"Yeah, he is." I nodded.

"Are they very serious?" he asked. 

"John!" My mom laughed, shaking her head. I think she was surprised at his insistence, too. 

"Yes, they are actually," I said, trying not to sound too sour. 

"Well," my dad said with a sharp nod. "If they ever break up, you go for it, son. You know the sense I have about certain people," he bragged. "I could tell from the minute she walked in that that girl is something special, and if you get the chance, take it! I don't approve of a lot of the girls today, but every so often, you find one that's worthwhile." 

I raised my eyebrows and my mom laughed again, then winked at me. "She's a very pretty girl, too." 

My father 'harumphed' from behind the newspaper he had picked up, and I smiled at my mom. Trudging upstairs to my room, I couldn't help but feeling that the night had been a total success.


	19. Emails Between Beth and Jana That Night

EMAILS BETWEEN BETH AND JANA THURSDAY EVENING 

To: "Jana Morgan" Lil_Jana@chickmail.com 

From: "Beth Barry" Barry_Kewl@chickmail.com

Subject: how'd it go??

Date: Thursday, 9:36 pm

Jana! You still aren't home yet! I knew you were studying at Keith's tonight for the history-thing, but I didn't think you'd be gone so long!! I've called your house twice already. I know you'll check your email as soon as you get back, so if it's before 10 when you read this, give me a call. If it's after ten, just send me back an email. I can't wait to see what you think of his parents! Isn't his dad sooo strict? I was at Keith's house a few times last year when his dad was home, and I thought he was kind of mean. I don't think he liked me very much. Especially my hair. I think he's one of those people that believes 'women' should have long hair as their 'glory' or whatever. :-P Well, he's never had long hair that takes forever to wash, so he wouldn't know what a pain long hair can be, would he? Did you meet "Blubba"? ;-) Hope to hear from you soon!!!

Luv, Beth 

To: "Beth Barry" Barry_Kewl@chickmail.com

From: "Jana Morgan" Lil_Jana@chickmail.com

Subject: Re: how'd it go??

Date: Thursday, 10:08 pm 

Hey, Beth! Sorry that I didn't get home in time to call you back! :-( I JUST got back from the Masterson's about 5 minutes ago. I guess I was there a long time, but it went pretty fast. His parents came into the kitchen where we were working and made conversation for awhile. I thought they were very nice, actually. Yeah, his dad does seem a kinda strict, but he got more friendly near the end. Did you know he likes puns?? I thought that was pretty interesting! We were 'sharing' ones that we knew, and there were some new ones I got from him. (I was able to give him some, too.) Hey, remind me to tell you the one about the photographer in the haunted house, ok? It's so funny! 

Argh, I g2g. Talk to ya at school tomorrow... I can give you more details if you want, but there really isn't much to tell.

Luv, Jana

p.s. Blubba? Who's that? Another cat? I did meet their one cat, Bubba. Keith said it's a mean one, but I thought it was pretty nice! I couldn't pet it too much, though, since I'm allergic. :-P


	20. Jana

Jana

"Shoot," I muttered, making a face as two of my books fell out of my locker. I bent down to pick them up, trying not to get stepped on by the throngs of kids jostling their way down the hall to their lockers to get out their stuff for the weekend. Hard to believe it *was* the weekend again. The week had gone by so fast! Well, no wonder, I thought, stuffing the two books into my backpack. I'd had a lot going on these past few days. 

"Hi, Jana!" 

I looked up to see Mona Vaughn standing at her locker two down from mine. Mona is another girl in my class, who I've known since kindergarten. She's also a very sweet person and a good friend of The Fab Five. 

"Hi, Mona," I replied cheerfully. "You ready for the weekend?"

"Yup," she said with a smile and a nod. "It would be some freaky day when I *wasn't* ready for the weekend." Then she wrinkled her nose. "Except I have a big English essay to turn in Monday that's only halfway done as of now. I guess I'll have to work on it tomorrow. But not tonight! T.G.I.F.!"

I laughed. "Definitely." 

"I hear you have a big project, too," Mona said, closing her locker door and slipping her backpack on. "With Keith Masterson or something?"

I gave her a puzzled look. "How did you hear about that?"

She shrugged. "Oh, around. A couple kids were talking about it in the hot lunch line the other day. I can't remember who." She hesitated a minute, then added, "One of the guys said Keith told him he was really happy you guys were paired up because he still has a super big crush on you." 

I felt my face heat up and annoyance start to build. When will these people let up? I thought angrily. Did EVERYONE at school have to get on my case? How come EVERYONE seemed to think Keith still liked me? It was so stupid and it was really starting to get to me. 

"Well," I said tartly, tossing my head and hoisted my own backpack. "That guy didn't know what he was talking about. Or maybe you just heard wrong. You know how NOISY the cafeteria can be."

"I guess so-"

"-because," I interrupted. "Keith most certainly does NOT have a crush on me. We're just good friends. I wish everyone could understand that. I guess people would just love to see some big conflict come up again."

Mona nodded. I couldn't tell if she believed me or not. 

"So," I added for good measure. "If you ever hear anyone say something like that again, you can tell them you heard it straight from Jana herself that it is NOT true." 

"But how do you know it isn't?" Mona said suddenly, then immediatly turned a light shade of pink, as if embarrassed to say what she was thinking outloud. I sighed. 

"Because it's just... I dunno! It's just obvious. And it all makes sense. Keith isn't dumb, Mona. He knows how stupid it would be if he still had a crush on me. I'm sure he hasn't forgotten the mess last year. And besides, he KNOWS how much I like Randy. So if he by some chance did still like me like that, he'd have to see how it just wouldn't work." 

Mona nodded again, slower. "Yeah, you're right, Jana. I wasn't really sure whether Keith still liked you or not, but when you put it that way, you have to be right." 

I smiled at her, relieved. "Thanks, Mona. I'm glad to have SOMEONE believe me."

She cocked her head. "Why do you say that?" 

"Because EVERYONE thinks that Keith still has a crush on me. And I don't know why! I've told them he doesn't. Don't you think I would know if he did? And he doesn't act romantic or flirty or anything. He acts like we're just good friends." I paused a minute, biting my lip. "Do YOU know why people would think he likes me, Mona? I mean, does he do anything I'm not aware of? Like, you know, tell people he has a crush on me or stare at me or anything." 

She shrugged. "He hasn't told me anything and I don't have any classes with the two of you to see if he looks at you or anything. But I suppose I could ask some people if they've heard or seen anything like that."

I grabbed her by the shoulders impulsively. "Mona! That's a terrific idea! That way I'll know for sure if Keith is doing anything I don't know about. I mean, I don't think he is. I really don't. But there has to be SOMETHING to make people think he still likes me." I paused for a breath. "You know what I think? I bet that maybe Keith said something to someone and they interpreted it the wrong way and then passed it on. You know what I mean? Something like that." 

Mona smiled. "I bet that's it, Jana. But we'll find out for sure. I'm going to Bumpers right now, so I can ask a few people there. Are you going over, too?"

I shook my head. "I have cheerleading practice. But I'll see you around, ok? Are you going to the movies tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll be there."

"Good, I'm going, too- with Fab Five. We'll meet up at the movies sometime and you can tell me if you found out anything, alright?" 

"Sounds good." 

I gave her a quick hug. "Thanks soo much, Mona. I really appreciate it!"

She gave me a hug back. "No problemo. You'd do the same for me. See ya tonight!" 

As we parted ways I couldn't help but wonder what Mona would find out. Maybe nothing. Maybe Keith really hadn't said or done anything, and people just figured he still liked me. Or maybe he *did* say something that was interpreted wrong, giving people false ideas. 

Or could it be at all possible Keith DID have a crush on me? The thought was almost too hard to comprehend, and I tried to shake it out of my head. It couldn't be. It didn't make sense at all. Keith had to know I'd never dump RANDY of all people for HIM, even though I *was* starting to realize Keith wasn't such a bad guy. Still, he didn't even start to compare with Randy. No, everybody had to be wrong. There was no way Keith could still like me. 

But, you know, all the same, it wouldn't hurt for me to keep my eyes open myself. You know, see if he looked at me weird, or kind of flirted or anything. Just in case. Not like I was worried. 


	21. Mona

Mona

"Hi, Mona! Have a seat," Marcie Bee said cheerfully, patting the chair next to her. 

"Thanks," I replied with a smile, as I scooted in at the table. As I arranged my backpack on the floor between my feet, I glanced around Bumpers. It was crowded, as usual. Even though a bunch of kids had sports practices and stuff after school, the middle school hangout was still bursting with kids. 

"So, what's everyone's plans for tonight?" Sara Sawyer asked from across the table. I said along with just about all the other girls sitting around the table that I'd be at Cinema Six later that evening. A lot of the girls were going to the movies on a date. Sometimes I go with MY boyfriend, Matt Zeboski, but tonight I wasn't. I would most likely see him there, though. 

As the conversation switched over to school gossip, I realized this was probably my chance to ask the girls about the thing with Keith that Jana Morgan had asked me to bring up. See, Keith Masterson is this guy who I've known forever, and he USED to go out with Beth Barry (Jana's best friend) but then they broke up last year because Keith liked Jana. To make a really long story short, Keith never got what he wanted and I thought that his crush on Jana was over. Everybody did. In fact, he and Jana weren't even on speaking terms... up until about last week. Now they're friends again AND working on some big school project together. Needless to say, I have heard some interesting rumors. Mainly about how Keith still likes Jana and he's thrilled they're were assigned to be partners and spend time together alone. When I tried to tell Jana what I've been hearing, though, she got really worked up and insisted that it's NOT true. She told me about how it really wouldn't make sense for Keith to still like her because he knows how much she likes Randy and surely he hasn't forgotten the big mess his crush on her last year caused. I have to admit, I can see her point. She does want to know why, though, everyone thinks Keith is still crushing on her when she really doesn't think he's shown any evidence that he does. So she wanted me to talk to some different people and ask them whether or not they know anything SHE doesn't. I promised her I'd do what I could- after all, what are good friends for? And right now was as good as time as any. I really wanted to have some sort of news to tell Jana at the movies tonight. 

"Hey, guys, I need to ask you something," I said in a confidential tone, leaning in towards the center of the table. Immediatly, the other girls all stopped talking and looked at me eagerly. 

"What is it, Mona?" Melinda Thaler asked eagerly, leaning in closer herself. I bit back a smile. It shouldn't be hard to get the information I needed from this group. These girls loved to gossip. 

"Well, it's about Jana and Keith," I said, pausing for effect to make sure I had the girls' complete attention. See, Jana is just about the most popular girl in the entire school and Keith is pretty well known, too. *And* all the girls sitting at this particular table had been here last year to witness the big mess between Jana and Keith. It's a given that anytime those two names are mentioned in the same sentence, everyone stops to listen. 

"What about them?" Sara asked impaitiently. 

"Yeah, Mona, c'mon," Jennifer Jordan wailed. "Don't be mean." 

I laughed, and then proceeded to tell them about my conversation with Jana. "So," I ended, shifting my weight, "Jana thought maybe some of you guys might know why people are saying Keith still has the hots for her. Like, have any of you guys seen Keith staring at her or maybe heard him SAY he still has a crush on her?" 

"Oh, wow," Marcie Bee spoke up, bouncing in her seat. "You better believe it! I've heard all kinds of things. Not from Keith directly, but from his friends and stuff."

"So have I," Jennifer broke in. "Jared- you know, my boyfriend- told me the other day about how Keith was going on in the locker room after football practice about how glad he was that Jana was his partner for their history project because he thinks she's so cool and sweet and pretty and stuff." 

"Yeah," Sara nodded. "I heard Tony Sanchez telling one of his friends in math class the other day about how Keith was talking to him in one of their classes about being thrilled that he and Jana were paired up. According to Tony, Keith practically told him flat out that he still has a crush on Jana and that he thinks she's totally hot. And..." she trailed off for a minute, raising one eyebrow. "...AND Tony said Keith doesn't even care that Jana is dating someone else- he's still going to try to steal her from Randy!" 

"You wish," Marcie giggled, giving Sara a shove. We all had to laugh a little. Sara has had a crush on Randy for a while. 

"So you guys all think that Keith still likes Jana?" I asked. 

"I do," Melinda said forcefully. "He and Jana are both in my homeroom and the minute I heard they were friends again, I started watching them whenever I could. And Keith DEFINITELY stares at Jana in class ALOT." 

"It's weird, though," I said with a frown, "that Jana doesn't seem to notice all this. It's like she's living in a parallel universe or something. I mean, if Keith really has been saying stuff like you guys have heard or staring at her all the time, don't you think she'd notice?" 

"Maybe not," Jennifer shrugged. "I was talking to Jana the other day and she mentioned about how nice it was she and Keith were friends again. She really seems to think he just likes her as a friend. And it's likely that when he's around her, he might not be flirty or anything. Keith probably knows if he comes on too strong, he'll scare Jana away. He's probably just trying to come on a little bit at a time while she's not suspecting anything." 

"He's such a rat," Sara muttered. 

"Honestly," I agreed. "Doesn't he care at all about Jana and Randy?"

"No!" the other girls said in unison, and we all laughed. 

"Well, thanks for your help, guys," I said, standing up and picking my bookbag up. "I'll relay this back to Jana and see what she has to say. I don't think she's going to be very happy." Then I sighed. "If she even believes it at all." 

"We can talk to her, too," Melinda suggested. "Maybe if more of us let her know what we've been hearing, she'll start being more aware and see for herself." 

"Good idea," Sara agreed, and we all nodded. 

As I stepped out of Bumpers and started for my house, I sighed again. I really hoped Jana would actually listen to us and be able to see for herself what was REALLY going on.

****

--cont in tGiM2--


	22. Beth

Beth

I grabbed the sleeve of Jana's cheerleading jacket and pointed across the front sidewalk of Cinema Six. 

"There she is, Jana," I said quickly. "Talking to Matt Zeboski and Derek Travelstead." 

"Where? Where's Mona?" Jana turned sharply and started glancing around. It was Friday evening and we were at the movies, an almost weekly tradition. At the moment, we were trying to spot Katie Shannon and Christie Winchell (Melanie Edwards wasn't going to sit with The Fab Five tonight as she had a date with Shane Arrington) through the throngs of kids milling around the popular weekend hangout. We had also been trying to find Mona Vaughn, whom Jana said she just HAD to talk to- right away. Something about Jana getting Mona to ask around and find out why everyone was saying Keith still had a crush on Jana. 

"Over *there*," I repeated, grabbing Jana's shoulders and turning her in Mona's direction. "In the bright blue jacket. See?" 

"Oh! Ok, now I do," Jana said with a nod, taking a step in Mona's direction. "I'm going to-" 

"Hi, guys!" Katie walked up suddenly with Christie right behind her, interrupting Jana. 

"Hey! I'm happy to see you guys! I was afraid we wouldn't be able to find you in the crowd," I greeted them, glancing at Jana who had also said a quick hello to Katie and Christie, and was now looking at me and making motions towards Mona. 

"Yeah, I know. It's really packed tonight," Christie agreed, at the same time giving Jana a weird look. "Hey, what's up, Jana?" 

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I'll explain later. So, I'll meet you guys inside, okay?" 

"Sure." I nodded. "Good luck." 

"What's with her?" Katie raised her eyebrows as Jana disapeared in the crowd. 

I filled them in on the whole deal with Mona. 

"I get it," Christie said with a nod when I finished. "That's a good idea, actually. I mean, if Jana can't see for herself that Keith still likes her, surely she'll have to believe it when lots of kids start giving her evidence. Especially if some kids have heard Keith say himself that he has a crush on her." 

Katie agreed. "I'm glad, too. And it wouldn't hurt if we starting helping Mona out. I mean, the sooner Jana's eyes are opened, the better." 

I nodded. "I know. I'd REALLY hate to see something bad come out of this whole thing. It's pretty obvious it's starting to get to Randy. The tension between him and Keith has gotten thick enough to cut with a knife lately." 

Christie's blue eyes got big. "It would be soo terrible if she and Randy had an argument over Keith and got on bad terms or something." 

"Definitely." Katie nodded. Then she pointed towards the ticket line. "We'd better go get our tickets before it gets too late. Come on. We can ask Jana what Mona had to tell her once we're inside." 

As Christie and I followed Katie towards the line, I glanced in the direction Mona had been standing earlier. I couldn't see her OR Jana, though, through the crowd. I sighed. I couldn't wait to talk to Jana. It would be interesting to see what Mona had to tell her. *I* hadn't really heard that many rumors about Keith liking Jana, so it would definitely be interesting to hear some of the ones that WERE going around. 


	23. Randy

Randy

I glared at Keith standing a few feet away, having a conversation with Derek Travelstead and Brad Cochran. 

"Can you believe his nerve, showing up here after he personally told Jana that he was 'busy' tonight and couldn't work with her on their history project?" I fumed to Mark Peters who was standing in line at the movies in front of me. "I mean, they could have worked TONIGHT instead of LAST night, when Jana and I just happened to have a date. But of course Keith couldn't have Jana and I spending any time together." I blew out an angry breath. "Keith's just a rat and that's all there is to it." 

Mark turned and gave me a sympathetic look. "That is pretty low of him. It does really look like he lied to Jana just so that you two couldn't hang out. Of course, there *is* a chance he was GOING to be busy, but whatever he had to do got cancelled or something." 

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, yeah sure, I just bet that's it." 

"Well, look at the bright side, Randy. They aren't together tonight," Mark pointed out. "In fact, isn't that Jana heading this way?" 

I turned to look where he was pointing, and sure enough saw Jana walking towards us and glancing around, obviously looking for someone. 

"Jana! Hi!" I called as she got closer. She saw me and smiled. 

"Hi, Randy," she said walking up. "Hi, Mark. Have you guys seen The Fabulous Five anywhere? I had to talk to Mona for a minute, and they disapeared on me." 

"I think they're inside already," I said, motioning towards the lobby of the theater. "You can get in line with me, though, if you want." 

"Thanks, I guess I'll have to!" She laughed, but I realized her laugh seemed forced. Her smile did, too, come to think of it. 

"Hey, what's the matter?" I asked, concerned. "Are you okay?" 

She gave me a surprised look. "Sure. I'm fine. Why?" 

"You just look like something's bothering you." 

She smiled again, though this time it was genuine. "I'm alright. Really." She sighed. "I just got some interesting news, that's all." 

I raised my eyebrows. "Interesting news? About what?" 

She shook her head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

She reached out and took my hand, smiling up at me again. I smiled back, though I was still puzzled and a little worried. Something was DEFINITELY bothering her. But what? Surely she wasn't mad at me for anything. Was it something was Keith? Could she be upset with Keith? I felt a small spark of hope. Maybe they were back on bad terms again. I felt horrible wishing for something like that, but it certainly would be good for me. It would be so wonderful if I didn't have to-

"Oh, Jana! Hi!" 

I felt my spine stiffen and my eyes narrow. Keith. Why couldn't he just leave my girlfriend *alone*? He sure had a lot of nerve talking to her when I was standing, AND holding hands, with her. I glanced over at Jana, who I noticed looked slightly uncomfortable, although she was smiling. 

"Hi, Keith. I didn't expect to see you here tonight. Did your trip out of town get cancelled?" She asked, raising her eyebrows slightly. Good! I thought happily. She actually almost looks annoyed with him! About time. 

I shot a quick look over my shoulder to see Keith's reaction. He looked surprised for an instance, then he laughed. 

"Oh, that. Well, it wasn't for certain that we were going anywhere, but my parents made me leave the evening open just in case. You know how that goes." 

"Sure, sure. Of course," I muttered sarcastically under my breath. Oh, brother. He was such a liar. I hoped Jana could see what a fake he was. 

Naturally Keith heard my remark. "Hey, butt out, Kirwan, and keep your comments to yourself. I know you hate my guts, but that doesn't give you any reason to insult me in public." 

I whipped around and glared at him. The *nerve*! It was on the tip of my tongue to say something nasty back, but I could see Jana out of the corner of my eye looking worried and I also noticed her grip on my hand had tightened considerably. A couple kids standing around were also starting to glance our way.

Cool it, Randy. I told myself. Remember, *you* are the one going out with Jana. *You* are the one holding her hand right now. She likes *you* no matter what Mr. Bozo Brain says or does. Besides, I reasoned, there's too much of an audience to get into a fight with him now. No, it'd be best to wait to chew him out until a time when we were in private. 

So without a word, I faced back towards the front again. Jana squeezed my hand and I knew she was greatful I hadn't made a scene with Masterson. Keith didn't talk to us anymore either, although I heard him mutter a few things about me being a loser and a wimp under his breath and I was clenching my jaw so much to keep from firing anything back that it was really starting to ache by the time we reached the ticket window. 

Jana left me once we got inside the lobby and she spotted her friends. Before she went to join them, she squeezed my arm and said a quick thank you, which I knew she meant was her appreciation for me not starting a fight with Keith outside. Her happiness almost made me feel good about not getting verbal with Masterson, and I was actually relieved about the way I'd handled it as I sank into a seat in the theater a few minutes later. Until I heard someone behind me whisper, "You're such a loser, Kirwan. You can't even stand up for yourself. Not that I'm surprised about that or anything. The only thing that surprises me is that someone like Jana goes out with someone like you." 

I didn't have to turn around to know it was Keith. I gritted my teeth. I was going to have to do something about him and SOON. I couldn't take much more of this.


	24. Jana

Jana

"So Keith DOES still like you?" Katie Shannon asked quietly as we stood beside the sink in the girls restroom at Cinema Six. I glanced around quickly to make sure no one else was in the room. There wasn't anyone; we were alone. Not surprising since all the theaters were playing movies right now- Katie and I had left during a boring part to hit the restrooms and she had asked me while we were washing our hands what I had wanted to talk to Mona about earlier. Naturally, I had told her. 

"Well, according to what other people have told Mona," I replied with a sigh, leaning up against the sink. "I mean, all the people she asked told her that either they personally heard Keith talking about his crush on me, or else they've talked to other people who heard Keith say it, or they've seen him staring at me, yada yada yada." I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my hand, trying to relieve the ache that was starting to increase there. 

Katie looked at me sympathetically. "So, what are you going to do?" 

I shrugged and turned around to face the mirror. "What can I do? Go up to Keith and say 'I hear you still have a crush on me! Stop right now, you understand?' He'd think I'd totally flipped." I paused to pull some lipstick out of my purse, and then applied it to my lips. "Besides, I'm not even sure I believe what Mona said." 

Katie gaped at me in the mirror. "You think Mona lied? Oh, Jana, I don't think-"

I held up my hand. "No, I don't think she LIED. But maybe the people she got the information from did. Or they thought they were telling the truth, but they just misunderstood Keith. You know? I just want to be careful. I don't want to start jumping to any conclusions." 

Katie took a brush out of her purse and started to slowly comb her long red hair. "But, Jana... I mean, I don't think you should jump to conclusions either, but at least consider it! I mean, when half a dozen people say they've heard from Keith that he still likes you... don't you think there has to be some truth there?" 

I closed my eyes in frustration. Not at Katie, but at the whole situation. "I don't know, Katie. I just don't know! I'm so confused right now. It does seem like so many people couldn't be mistaken, but I just have a hard time believing Keith still has a crush on me. I mean, he never acts like it when we're alone!" 

"Are you sure?" Katie asked cautiously. "Maybe you just haven't been looking at it like that." 

I shot her an annoyed look. "Now you sound like Randy. Honestly! Don't you think I'd notice if someone was flirting with me?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. If it was any other boy, yes, I think you would. But with Keith... I dunno, he's different Jana. He's smart, and he really knows how to munipulate people." She paused and shook her head. "I just don't trust him." 

"Well, just because you don't trust him doesn't mean he's bad," I snapped. "I'm not going to do anything about it right now. I'm not going to say anything to him, and I'm not going to make any 'final' decisions on the matter. Not until I've thought it out more at least. Got it?" 

"Whoa, sorry," Katie said, raising her eyebrows and backing away. I sighed and reached out to squeeze her arm. Boy, I was turning into such an ogre. 

"No, I'm sorry, Katie. I don't know why I'm being so touchy tonight. Well, I guess I do know why," I laughed ruefully. "But that's not any excuse." 

"It's okay, Jana, really," Katie murmered softly, giving me a worried look. 

I put my lipstick back in my purse. "Listen, I'm really not in the right state of mind to be here tonight. I have a really horrible headache and I just want to try to get some things figured out. So I'm going to go home to think things out, okay? Tell the others for me." 

Katie nodded. "I hate to see you go so early, but I understand. Call me later tonight, okay?" 

I nodded back and tried to smile. "See ya later." 


	25. Keith

Keith

I stepped into the order line at Bumpers friday night after the movie and glanced around the crowded restaurant. I had seen Jana earlier at Cinema Six before the movie started, but lost track of her since then. Now I couldn't seem to spot her anywhere and I thought for *sure* she'd be here. I kinda wanted to talk to her again, to make sure everything was still okay between us. When I had seen her outside the movie theater earlier, she had almost seemed a little bit annoyed with me. Of course, it could have been my imagination, (or the fact that she was standing with her stupid boyfriend), but I wanted to make sure she really wasn't mad or anything anyway. 

Just then the person in front of me turned around. It was Bill Soliday. 

"Hey, Keith!" He said with a smile. 

"Hey, man! What's up?" I replied. Bill is really cool. 

"Things are good, how about you?" 

"Great, things are going great," I said. We talked for awhile as the line inched forward. It was really packed tonight. 

"Who are you sitting with?" Bill asked when we were almost up to the counter. 

I shrugged. "Not sure. Probably Tony Sanchez. He said he'd save me a seat anyway." 

"Okay," Bill said with a nod. "But if he didn't, you can come sit at my table over there." He pointed across the room. 

"Sure," I agreed. Then I thought of something. "Hey, Bill, have you seen Jana here tonight? I needed to, um, talk to her about our history project real quick." 

"On a Friday night?" Bill asked, giving me a skeptical look. Everyone knows I'm not exacty Mr. Student, ESPECIALLY not on the weekend. 

I flushed slightly. "I just needed to ask her something about it. Have you seen her? I saw her at the theater, but I haven't seen her here yet." 

Bill glanced around. "Um, I can't say I've seen her, but I did see The Fabulous Five sitting at a table near the jukebox." 

I looked to where he was motioning. I could just see Katie Shannon's red hair through the crowd. 

"OK, great thanks. If she's anywhere, she'll be sitting there." 

As soon as I got my order, I weaved through the crowd towards The Fab Five's table. A few feet away, I got a good view of their table and stopped. The Fab Five was sitting there alright, but so were their boyfriends. That meant if Jana was there, Randy would be, too. And I didn't want to talk to her if HE was there. Honestly, he is such a jerk. Always insulting me in front of Jana and making me look like a real loser. What did Jana see in him, anyway? 

I took a few steps closer, to see if Jana was really there, and saw she wasn't. But neither was Randy. I frowned. It would be just like them to go somewhere else by themselves. Great. Now I wouldn't get to talk to Jana after all. Oh well, I thought. I'd call her tomorrow with some excuse about meeting somewhere to work on our project. Knowing her and how she was about getting schoolwork done, she wouldn't turn that down, whether she was annoyed at me or not. 

Feeling better, I turned around to go find Tony's table. 

"Oops, sorry!" I said quickly as I bumped into someone. 

"That's okay." It was Scott Daly and he must have been standing right behind me. The funny look on his face gave me a weird feeling, but before I could say anything to him, he walked away. 


	26. Scott

Scott

Stepping up to my locker in the locker room Saturday afternoon, I could almost feel the hate radiating from the row behind me where Randy and Keith were getting ready. (Normally we had football games on Friday nights, but sometimes- like today- we switched with the younger team, and had games Saturday afternoon instead.) I sighed as I got changed into my uniform. I was starting to get seriously annoyed with Keith and Randy's quarrel, even though I was actually beginning to think Randy might be on the right track after all. At first I had thought he was just overreacting when he asked me to help him keep an eye on Keith and Jana, but now I wasn't so sure he was afterall. I had been watching Keith a lot lately, and he DID seem to be looking at Jana every time she was around or talking to her whenever he got a chance. Last night at Bumpers I had even caught him starting to approach the table where The Fab Five was sitting. He seemed to stop once he realized Jana wasn't there, and then turned around to go sit with his friends. Of course, maybe now *I* was starting to blow things out of proportion but you have to admit it was awfully suspicious.

All through our warmups on the field before the game, I could see that both Randy and Keith looked distracted and irritated. Mark Peters and I swapped worried looks and I knew he was also hoping that those two would be able to put their issues behind them at least for the game. It wasn't fair to the rest of us if they let their problems get in the way of them playing well. 

"Randy," I hissed as we started to get into our places for the first play. "Think happy thoughts, ok?" 

He rolled his eyes at me. 

"Seriously," I insisted. "Don't let him get to you! I know it's bothering you right now and I also know you won't play as well if you're thinking about it. So clear your mind and focus on the game, ok? Please?" 

He sighed. "I know. I'll do my best, ok?" 

"Good. Hey, remember- she's cheering for *you*," I added quickly, nodding over my shoulder towards the direction of the 8th grade cheerleading squad where I knew Jana was. Randy glanced over and smiled as Jana waved to him, then looked back at me. 

"Thank, Scott. You're a good friend." 

I was thrilled to see Randy and Keith put their differences aside for the game, and both played well, as did the rest of the team. We led the entire game and won by over 20 points. I was feeling optomistic and happy as I trotted off the field, talking and sharing congrats with my teamates, when up ahead disaster struck. I just happened to glance up ahead in time to see Keith purposely bump into Randy. Randy was talking with Shane Arrington at the time and Keith took him totally by surprise. He stumbled forward trying to catch himself and ended up tripping and falling onto his hands, right in front of where the cheerleaders were getting their stuff together to leave. He was up in a second but not fast enough that anybody standing around could miss it. A couple guys from the team called out, "Hey, Kirwan, can't even stand up, huh? Guess the game really wore you out!" and stuff to that effect, some of the cheerleaders giggled (not Jana, though, who didn't even see it happen, as she had her back turned while talking to a friend), and even a few kids standing by the fence around the field laughed. It was obvious that their comments were just light and joking, but Randy looked furious. I knew if it had been any other guy who tripped him, he would have just laughed, because that's the way Randy is. But Keith... this was definitely the last straw and I could see it in the way Randy moved as he headed off the field and towards the locker room after Keith. I weaved through the remaining players and hurried after Randy, sliding into the locker room just in time to see him turn into the row with his locker (and Keith's). I made my way over and arrived just as it started. 

"Hey, Masterson, I've had it with you," Randy snapped, stomping up to Keith and clenching his fists. 

Keith turned from where he was starting to change out of his jersey. He gave Randy a look of hatred and disdain before replying. 

"What's your problem now, Kirwan?" he sneered. "Honestly! Just because you trip on the field doesn't mean you have to take it out on me!" 

"That's not what this is about and you know it!" Randy replied hotly. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that most of the guys in the locker room had noticed something was up and were coming closer. There was a fight in the air and everyone could feel it. I stood there feeling helpless, unsure what to do. Randy was one of my best friends and the last thing I wanted was for Randy to fight Keith and get in trouble, but I knew it was useless to try and break them up right now. Randy was so upset there was no way he'd listen to even me right now. There was nothing to do but watch and wait. 

"It's about YOU suddenly getting an attitude where you think you can just step in and get whatever you want, namely MY girlfriend!" Randy was saying now as he stepped closer to Keith. 

"Hey, Jana can be friends with whoever she wants to be friends with. So before you start screaming at me about us getting along, talk to her first. If she doesn't have a problem with it, then you shouldn't either, because you don't own her!" Keith retorted, moving towards Randy. 

"I know that!" Randy snapped. "That's not the point. The point is you're using your friendship with her to go farther! Maybe she can't see that- because for some bizarre reason she trusts you- but I can and I'm not going to let you get away with taking her from me. Got it?" 

"And what are you going to do about it?" Keith sneered. I could see Randy's jaw clench with indecision. I could almost hear the battle going on his head. Randy is not a fighting person- he's never been in a fist fight in his life. I knew he really didn't want to have it out like that with Keith. But I also knew he was at the end of his rope. I moved a little closer, afraid of what was coming next. 

"Wuss," Keith laughed coldly, giving Randy a hard shove before turning back to his own locker. 

"Tell him, Keith!" Someone called as Randy stumbled backwards, smacking into the locker behind him with a thud that had to hurt. He almost seemed to bounce off the locker, though, landing right in front of Keith and shoved him back, though not quite as hard. 

"Hey, watch it, man," Randy growled. 

"Let him have it, Randy!" Someone shouted from behind. 

"Yeah, Kirwan! Give him what he deserves!" 

Keith cursed and pointed his finger in Randy's face. "You're so full of crap! You think you're such a big deal, ordering people around. I've put up with you long enough!" And before anyone could blink, the punch was thrown and the fight began. Immediatly, chaos ensued as the two boys punched and shoved and kicked their way around the area. All the other guys standing around started shouting, most yelling encouragement to Kirwan and Masterson, while the rest of us tried to get them to stop. Naturally, we could barely be heard and we couldn't get close enough to try and break it up, so we had to watch the fight and pray neither of them got badly hurt. Suddenly I heard Mark shouting, "Hey, cut it out, you two! The coach is coming! Quick, break it up!" 

We all knew Coach Bledsoe had almost a zero tolerance for fighting, so Shane, Brad Cochran and I jumped forward to try and pull Randy and Keith apart, without much luck. In a split second, Coach Bledsoe and one of his assistant coaches came plowing through the crowd, heading straight for Randy and Keith. 

"HEY! BREAK IT UP! NOW!" Coach roared, stepping between the boys and pulling them apart. His helper jumped in and held Keith back while Coach Bledsoe grabbed Randy's shoulders. Both struggled for a minute, yelling at each other, with some major cursing on Keith's part. Wow, I didn't realize what a mouth he had. 

"ALL RIGHT," Coach bellowed, silencing the room. "I want to know exactly what's going on, and I want to know NOW!" 

No one said a word. 

"WELL?!" He turned to Randy. "Well, Kirwan? I know you'll tell me. What's the problem here?" 

"Teacher's pet," Keith muttered. Coach didn't hear him, but Randy certainly did. He glared at Keith, then looked down at the floor, wiping at the blood trickling out of his nose. 

"Nothing, sir. Keith and I just had a problem that got out of control." 

"I'll say," Coach Bledsoe snapped. "I am throughly ashamed of what's happened here. I expect much better of you. Of both of you! I was pleased with how both of you played today, but now I couldn't be more disapointed in either of you. You can be sure your parents will hear about this." 

He let his words sink in, then let go of Randy's shoulders. 

"If there is one more outburst like this from either of you on the football field, during practice or in the locker room, you're both off the team. Got it?" 

"Yes, sir," the muttered in unison. 

"Good. Anthony, get some ice for Masterson's eye and something for Kirwan's nose. And check for any other damage. If either of them have hurt anything that effects their playing skills, it needs to be taken care of right away." 

With that, he sailed out of the room, leaving us all to stand around awkwardly for a moment, staring at Randy and Keith, who were still faced off, though not looking at each other. 

"All right, boys, it's over, finish getting cleaned up," Anthony ordered the rest of the room. I stood for a moment watching Anthony make Randy and Keith sit down on a bench as everyone else started to scatter. My heart rate was still above normal and I couldn't even imagine what Randy and Keith were feeling right now. Wound wise, it was obvious Keith would have a black eye, and both were rubbing sore spots. As Anthony handed Randy a hankie to wipe his nose with, I noticed Keith give Randy one of the most hateful looks I've ever seen. I had a sinking feeling this mess wasn't over with yet. 


	27. Randy

Randy

Man, I've really blown it now, I thought dejectedly as I sat on a bench in the locker room, tying my shoes. Why in the world did I have to let Keith get to me? Why couldn't I have just ignored him and walked away or something when he shoved me into the locker? I groaned inwardly as I thought about my new predicament. Now I had a warning from the coach and my parents were outside waiting for me to get done changing so they could escort me home and chew me out. Or maybe just one of them had come to get me, I thought. I wasn't sure, since I knew that they'd already left when Coach Bledsoe went to tell them I'd been involved in a fight with Keith, and he'd had to call them at home. I knew that at least one of them would have arrived back here at the football field by now, though, since it had taken me awhile to get cleaned up. I wondered how bad I'd get punished. Usually they aren't too hard on me, but then, I've never been involved in anything like this before. I figured I was AT LEAST grounded a week. Probably more like two. 

I stood up and sighed, then winced, as I hoisted my gymbag onto my shoulder. Ouch, not a good move. I'd have to remember not to do that again. I thought maybe I'd pulled a muscle in my shoulder, and although Anthony had had some ice on it for awhile, I had had to take it off when I'd gotten my shower and then I'd forgotten to put it back on. Oh well, I guess I could do that once I got home. At least my nose had stopped bleeding. 

The locker room was almost empty by now, with only a few guys left talking quietly to each other as they finished changing. I saw Scott rooting through his gym bag at the end of one aisle. He looked up as I passed by and gave me a sympathetic smile. I tried to smile back, feeling more dejected then ever. Why couldn't I have just listened to Scott in the first place? He'd warned me not to let Keith get under my skin. But I hadn't been able to do that, and now look at the trouble I was in. If I had only heeded Scott's advice... then I saw Keith at the other end of the room applying ice to his right knee and also to his left eye with a look of sincere pain on his face, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit like I'd done the right thing. I was starting to feel bad for thinking something like that, when Keith glanced up at me and gave me such a hateful glare, I couldn't help but be glad I'd beaten him up. I say beat him up, because even though he got me a few places, too, he was worse off then I was. Who knows how the fight would have ended or how long it would have gone if Coach hadn't come in, but at the time our fight was brought to an end, I was definitely ahead. 

I turned on my heel and left the locker room before Keith could say anything to me, and soon was walking along the edge of the football field. Better just face my parent(s) and get it over with, I thought. Suddenly, I noticed there was still a group of kids standing around the field's exit. Oh, great, I thought with a frown. Usually by this time everyone else has already left to go home or to Bumpers. Why were they still hanging around? I sighed. I had an unfortunate feeling that they'd heard about the fight in the locker room between Keith and I and had stayed around, hoping to get more info. I was right. 

I was barely 10 feet away from them when they all noticed me and rushed in my direction, shouting questions.

"Hey, Kirwan! Is it true that you and Masterson got into a fistfight?"

"Who won?" 

"We saw Coach Bledsoe come out, and boy, he sure looked mad!" 

"Are you still on the football team?"

I felt like the president whenever he steps out of a building and immediatly 700 reporters jump around him, shouting questions and thrusting microphones in his face. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? I thought. Are the so insensitive that they can't even grant me some privacy on the matter? I was almost ready to just tell them to get lost and ask Keith about it whenever he came out, when I realized that would be a very stupid thing to do. Keith was probably going to change the story around so much when he told it, that soon there'd be rumors going around that I attacked him with a gun while his back was turned for no reason or something. Yes, if he was going to be spreading anything like that, I wanted to at least get my side of things heard first. 

I slowed my pace a little so the kids walking beside me could hear me better. 

"Yeah, Keith and I kind of got into it a little while ago and-"

"What about?" Melinda Thaler asked eagerly. "I know you guys aren't friends, but what started the fight? Who started it?" 

"Yeah, what was the fight about anyway?" Someone else asked. 

"Did something happen during the game today?" 

"Um, it was about, well, we're just having some problems right now," I replied, slightly flustered as I tried to decide what to say. I wanted to leave Jana out of it as long as I could, anyway. "And, yes, to one of your earlier questions, Coach Bledsoe was mad, but no, neither of us are off the team. Sorry, you guys are going to have to excuse me now. My dad's waiting for me." 

By this time, I was thankfully out of the stadium and starting towards the parking lot. The 'thankfully' was only because it meant I was getting away from the other kids and their annoying questions. It had nothing to do with the sight of my dad up ahead leaning against his car while talking to Coach Bledsoe and a woman whom I recognized as Keith's mother. Just then, all three of them happened to look over and see me coming; there was no mistaking the frown on Dad's face. I took a deep breath and continued walking towards them. 

"There you are," my dad said in a cold tone when I reached them. Oh geez, I thought worriedly. I hoped he wouldn't chew me out right in front of everyone else. That would be almost too much. Thankfully, he didn't though. Instead he turned towards the car, saying, "Come on, let's get home." 

I nodded to him, then at the coach and Mrs. Masterson as I walked around to the passenger side of our car. Coach Bledsoe still had a stern look on his face, but he clapped me on the shoulder as I walked past him, so I knew I was pretty much forgiven, as of now, anyway. I had no doubt, though, that if I got into another fight like the one today when he was around, he'd kick me off the team without a second thought. In other words, I was planning on staying as far away from Keith as possible at football practices and games until the end of the football season, that was for sure. 

My family doesn't live very far from the middle school football field, about 15 minutes, but today the car ride home felt like a million years. At first, my dad didn't say ANYTHING, which actually made me more uncomfortable because I knew he was sitting there thinking about how to punish me. Finally, he spoke up. 

"Well, Randal, what do you have to say for yourself?" 

Oh, great. *Randal*. I'm called that about as often as I'm called 'Pete' or 'Joe'. In fact, some people don't even know that 'Randal' is my real name. My parents are really the only ones who call me that, and only when they're upset with me. His using it now was definitely not a good sign. I shifted in my seat and stared out the window. 

"It was stupid," I said finally. "I should never have let him get to me." 

"I'm glad you realize that," my dad replied sharply. "Fighting never solves anything and your mother and I are extremely disappointed in the fact that you chose to take the path today in an effort to resolve your differences with a friend." 

"Friend?! Keith isn't my friend," I exploded. "And I didn't *choose* to fight him! It just kind of... happened! Honest, Dad. I hate- er- dislike- Keith more then anyone I know, but I never planned on getting into a fight with him. Really!" 

"And why exactly do you all of a sudden dislike Keith?" Dad asked sharply. "If I remember correctly, you two used to be pretty good friends." 

Yeah, about a million years ago, I thought. Outloud I said, "Let's just say I have a good reason." 

"That's not good enough." My dad shook his head. "I need to know the 'good' reason you have for getting into a fight with him in public and almost getting yourself kicked off the football team." 

I bit my lip. I really didn't want to tell Dad that Jana was the reason behind our whole hate thing. I wasn't sure my dad would think of her as an appropriate reason. But I wasn't about ready to lie to him either. 

"He's trying to take Jana away from me, ok? He's had a crush on her for at least a year but that wasn't a problem until he and Jana became friends recently and now he's trying to use their friendship to steal her away from me," I said in one big breath. There. 

My dad looked at me a moment, then shook his head as he turned back to the road. "I should have known your girlfriend was mixed up in this somewhere," he sighed. "Randy, Randy." 

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in the seat, annoyed at his reply. What was that supposed to mean, anyway? He made it sound like I was some immature little kid who was upset because he wasn't getting his way in some trivial matter. Well, pardon me. I guess no one ever tried to take Mom away from Dad when THEY were dating. I shook my head. Parents never understood anything. 

By this time we had reached our house, and as we pulled into the garage, my dad said, "Don't go too far, young man. Your mother had to run to the real estate office for awhile, which is why she didn't come with me to get you, but she should be home by now and the three of us need to have a talk. Understood?" 

"Yes, sir," I sighed, grabbing my bag and getting out of the car. The minute I stepped into the house, my mom called my name from the kitchen. 

"Randy? Is that you?" 

"Yes, mom," I replied, setting my bag down at the bottom of the stairs and walking into the kitchen. Immediatly she was standing in front of me, checking me over for wounds. 

"Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Your nose looks red, was it bleeding earlier? Do you need ice on anything?" 

"He's fine, Helen," my dad said abruptly, coming in to the room.

I sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. "Yeah, mom, I'm fine," I said quickly. "Really. My nose was bleeding before, but it's okay now." 

My mom gave me one more worried look, then sat down at the table across from me. She glanced over at my father who was leaning against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest, then back at me. 

"Well, have you two talked at all? What exactly happened today, Randy?" 

I sighed, took a deep breath, and decided that it would be easiest to just explain *everything* to them now. Not just the fight in the locker room, but everything that'd been happening with me, Jana, and Keith in the past week. It took me awhile to tell them everything, and when I finally finished, I leaned back in my chair and waited to see what their reactions would be, wondering if they'd be at all sympathetic. I tried not to get my hopes up. 

My mom shook her head and reached aross the table to put her hand on top of mine. 

"Oh, Randy! I know how much you like Jana and I can see why- your father and I are both thrilled that you've got someone as special as her. But do you really think getting into a fight with Keith was the best way to handle it? Do you really think Jana will be pleased when she hears about it?" 

I shrugged. "I didn't mean to get into a fight with Keith, I told you that, and of course Jana won't be happy. But Mom- what else was I supposed to do? I told you, too, that I TRIED talking to him a number of times, and he just doesn't care." I sighed. "Half of me thinks he only wants to take Jana away because he hates me so much." 

"I'm glad you tried to talk to him, Randy, and I can see how you got frustrated with his lack of understanding. But, son," my dad said, "you have to see that fighting never helps anything. Look at the trouble it got you into today and imagine what the other kids are going to think when they hear about it. Surely some of them will lose respect for you. Can't you see there are no benefits to fighting?" 

"Yes, Dad," I replied quietly, trying not to roll my eyes at his 'fatherly wisdom'. And I did see his point- really- but that wasn't the issue here! Of course I knew fighting wasn't the answer! I had known that BEFORE he or anyone else had to tell me. What I *needed* was someone to tell me how to handle Keith. I knew today wouldn't change his ambitions in the slightest. I felt my heart sink at that thought. What WAS I going to do now? I didn't dare get into any more fights with him. Maybe I could--- suddenly I realized my dad was speaking again. 

"--grounded for a week." 

"Who, me?" I said, coming back to the present and trying to figure out what he was talking about. 

He rolled his eyes. "No, Heidi," he said. "Yes, you, Randy. I'm sorry if that seems unfair to you, but really, your mother and I are letting you off fairly easy." 

I'll say, I thought. I had thought for sure I'd be grounded at least two weeks. 

"But listen to me, Randy," Dad said firmly, pointing his finger at me. "There are to be absolutely no more phone calls from your coach informing us you've been involved in a fight, or any other outbreaks period between you and Keith. I don't know how you're going to do it yet, but you are going to figure out a better way to deal with the problem you two are having. Maybe talk to Jana and work something out. But there are to be no more fights or arguments between you and Keith. Or else you'll be punished much more severly. Is that understood?" 

"Yes, sir," I replied with a nod, relieved, actually. I stood up. "May I please be excused? I'm really tired and I'd like to rest awhile, if that's ok." 

"Go ahead," my mom said with a smile. She stood up, too, and gave me a hug. "We just love you, Randy, and don't want to see you get hurt or do anything you'll regret, you know?" 

I gave her a quick hug back. "I know. Thanks." 

My dad patted me on the shoulder as I turned to leave, and I was glad that he wasn't so mad at me anymore. Maybe he understood more then I thought. But I didn't dwell on that long, as I had other matters that needed to be dealt with right away. Like Jana. Yikes. I really hadn't thought too much about what she'd think when she heard about all this. I wondered if she'd be upset with me. I sighed. It wouldn't be fair if she got mad, though. It was because I liked her so much that I'd gotten into it with Keith in the first place! I thought about calling her and seeing if she was home, but then remembered I was grounded with no phone privileges. I groaned. I guessed I'd have to wait till Monday to talk to her. I tossed my bag down on the floor and threw myself across the bed. Darn that Keith Masterson, anyway.


	28. Keith

Keith 

If you think my dad is harsh guy on a regular basis, you should see him whenever he's really upset about something. It's not pretty, and it's not fun. That was the reason I dreaded going home and facing his wrath Saturday after the game. Forget me having to defend my pride, he'd be furious that I had embarrassed myself- excuse me, my family- in public, and I knew it had probably totally humiliated him when Coach Bledsoe (whom my father greatly admired) had called to tell him I'd been in a fistfight. 

"Three weeks? Four weeks? Four months?" I muttered outloud as I scuffed out of the locker room and towards the parking lot, wondering how long I'd be grounded for. And when I'm grounded, I'm grounded. No NOTHING extra. Just school and sports practices & games. I clenched my fist. How had Randy gotten punished? Randy never gets in trouble and his parents probably treat him like a saint, so I highly doubted he got anything major. Maybe a talking-to, but most likely nothing more. Disgusting. If his parents only knew what a brat their kid was... He'd probably gone and told them (and the rest of the world) that the whole fight was MY fault, when *he* was the one who started it in the locker room! Most of the kids would probably believe him, too, since he'd been spreading rumors for a while that I was trying to take Jana from him, which of course turned me into The Bad Guy since everyone at school (for some WEIRD reason) think Jana and Randy are the best couple in the world. I gritted my teeth as I started across the parking lot towards where I could see my mom talking with Coach Bledsoe. I would get Randy Kirwan if it was the last thing I ever did. If only Coach Bledsoe hadn't broken us up when he did- then I would've gotten the chance to show Randy a thing or two. I still will when I get the chance, I promised myself. He hasn't seen the last of me yet. 

The car ride home went pretty fast. My mom reprimanded me some. The usual 'I'm so displeased with you right now' and 'I really expect better of you' with lots of disappointed looks. I nodded and tried to look sorry, when inside my heart rate was starting to double. I knew my dad would be waiting for me back home and I figured I was in for a BIG LONG TALK. I just hoped I wouldn't say anything that would get me in trouble. My dad is always so unfair when he yells at me that I usually can't help trying to defend myself. Naturally, that makes him all the madder. 

Well, here we go, I thought as I walked into the house. 

"Keith James Masterson, get in here this minute," came my father's cold voice from the living room an instant later. 

"Coming," I sighed, throwing my sports bag to the side. My father was sitting in his usual chair, his back ramrod straight and his eyes burning. 

"Sit." He ordered, pointing to the couch. I sat. 

"I am so ashamed of you right now I can't express it in words," he said after a deathly pause, and right away I knew I was dead meat. He went on for the next five minutes like that, basically just about how disappointed he was in me and how he expected so much better from me and let me know just how much I'd shamed our family, yada yada yada. I really wish he'd put things in perspective sometimes. There are a lot worse things I could have done besides get into some fight with Randy. I could have shot someone, or robbed a bank, or hi-jacked an airplane even. But I hadn't done any of those things, and my dad was acting like I'd done ALL of them and more! Honestly. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. 

"Geez, Dad. I'm SORRY. Okay? I am. I didn't want to get into a fight with anyone and I certainly didn't do it to 'bring shame on our house'," I sighed. 

He glared at me. "Don't you EVER interrupt me, do you understand? When I'm talking to you, you listen. I'm not in the mood for any of your backtalk today." 

I felt like I was going to explode. "When are you EVER interested in what I have to say? Huh? You haven't even asked me to explain my side of the story yet. All you heard was what Coach Bledsoe told you, and he doesn't know ANYTHING except that Randy and I got into a fight. You're ready to condemn me without understanding what really went on today!" 

I had never seen my dad look so mad. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. I had no idea I was raising such a disrespectful teenager. Believe me, from now on, there are going to be some changes around here, because I'm not about ready to put up with this kind of crap. I don't NEED to know why you got in a fight- all that matters is that you were involved in one and made an idiot of yourself." 

He's so unfair! I screamed inside, feeling hot tears shoot to my eyes. I looked down and blinked them away. I wasn't about ready to CRY in front of him. But why couldn't he ever give me a chance? I'm sure Randy's parents let him tell his side of things. They probably even ASKED him to. But me? I get yelled at for trying to defend one of my inalienable rights. It wasn't fair. 

"John, don't you think we could at least let him tell us what happened today?" My mom said quietly from where she was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. My father stood up and glared at her. 

"You stay out of this, and I already know what happened today," he snapped. 

"But-" my mom started. 

"You, young man," Dad said ignoring her and turning back to me, "are grounded for a month. No computer time, no time with friends, no nothing. You come straight home from school, unless you have sports practices. " He took a breath then added, "And from now on I'm not tolerating any smart talk from you at all. You obey your mother and me with 'yes sir' and 'yes ma'am', you understand?" 

"Why don't you just ask me to drop and do 50?" I snapped standing up, too. A month! I knew I would get it pretty bad, but a whole month with nothing except sports and school... I was going to die. 

"You just got another week added on to your punishment," my father retorted, his eyes flaring. 

"What?!" I shouted. "That's not fair! You're unfair! You never listen to me, you don't even CARE about me. All you care about it yourself and how YOU look. Why don't you just put me up for adoption, huh?" 

"Would you like another week, young man?" 

I bit my toungue so hard I could feel it start to bleed. At that moment, I hated my father more then anything. I hated him even more then I hated Randy. I wished he WOULD put me up for adoption. 

"Well, I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment to you. I haven't been trying to be one on purpose, believe it or not. I guess I'll just go up to my room now so that you don't have to look at me anymore," I replied cooly, striding across the room to the stairs. At the bottom of them, I turned around and raised my eyebrows. "Sir." 

Then before either one of them said anything else, I stomped up to my room and stayed there for the rest of the evening. I wished I could stay there forever. I didn't care if I never saw my dad again. And my mom- well, she hadn't been much help.

At the same time, I couldn't help thinking how much Randy Kirwan was to blame for this. To think we'd once been friends...! Now thanks to him I was grounded for a month- no, 5 weeks- and on the most horrible terms I could be with my father. 

Darn that Randy Kirwan, anyway.


	29. Jana

Jana

I was glad the air was chilly on Saturday afternoon, because it helped wake me up. The night before I hadn't slept much, tossing and turning in bed while I tried to come to a reasonable conclusion about this whole mess with Keith. Mostly I wanted to believe that Mona and the people she'd talked to were wrong; that Keith DID NOT have a crush on me in any way and that they'd just mistaken something he'd said or something he'd done. But deep down I had to confess that they were probably right. For instance, when I really, really thought about it, (and believe me, lately I had been doing just that), I realized it was possible to interpret a few things he'd said to me as flirting. And then there was that evening at the library a few nights ago when we were doing research. He had definitely been acting weird that night. I had dismissed it as him just having a lot on his mind- it had never occurred to me that he was acting strange because he *liked* me. 

But how COULD he? I asked myself miserably for the millionth time as I changed into my cheerleading uniform. Did he lose his brain or something? Couldn't he see that it would NEVER work out? I could never, ever go out with him, even if I wanted to. Which I didn't. I mean, Keith was okay. Really. I was definitely starting to see he wasn't such a horrible person and he had some great qualities that I'd never really noticed before. But I didn't like him like THAT, and I didn't see myself ever liking him in that way. I felt slightly ill as I got ready to warm up with the other cheerleaders at the game a half hour later, thinking about how if Keith really HAD had a crush on me this whole time, Randy had been right in his suspicians all along and had had a right to be upset with me those few times he'd confronted me about it. And I just blew him off, I groaned inwardly. Well, I was going to work even harder to prove to him that he was still my #1. And I would be especially careful around Keith. I would be nice to him, but nothing more. And maybe no more meeting at each other's houses to work on our project unless absolutely necessary. I wasn't even sure I wanted to be alone with him anymore at all.

As for the football game, it was really fantastic and Wacko won by a lot of points. The Warriors all played extremely well, especially Randy, who's one of the team captains and quarterback, too. I cheered for him and waved at him everytime he looked my way, and he always smiled back so I knew he wasn't upset with me, at least right now, anyway. Melanie also kept off the Keith Topic while we were cheerleading, which I was grateful for, and helped boost my rising mood even more.

But I shouldn't have expected to get away with not having to discuss the whole Keith issue with my Fab Five friends, so I really didn't have any right to be at all surprised when Beth brought it up on the walk over to Bumpers. (The Fab Five almost always sat together there after football games, and our boyfriends usually sat with us, too.) 

"So, Jana, have you come to any conclusions yet? About Keith?" She asked point blank as we turned down Rondnam Avenue. I could tell by the way she asked that Katie had told them all about our convo we'd had in the girls' restroom Friday night. 

I nodded slowly. "I think so," I said uncomfortably. "I'm not 100% sure yet, but... I guess I'm kind of starting to think maybe Keith does like me after all." 

The girls let out a whoosh of air. Melanie gave me a hug even. 

"Thank GOD, Jana," she cried. "I am soooo happy you are finally starting to wake up and smell the coffee! I mean, it's nice you want to just remain in an innocent friendship with Masterson, but it's obvious he doesn't want just that and I'm glad you've noticed." She sighed and hugged me again. "I'm just soooo glad you're starting to realize that for yourself." 

The other girls voiced the same feeling, which I have to admit kind of surprised me. I hadn't realized how worried they'd been about the whole thing. While I hated having to admit that Keith probably did have a crush on me, I liked the warm feeling inside that I got when I thought about how much my friends cared about me. I gave Melanie a hug back then hugged the rest of them, too. 

"Thanks, guys," I said with a smile. "For caring so much. I'm sorry if I've been short with you guys whenever you brought the subject up... I just didn't want to face it that Keith might like me." I sighed. "I just wanted to be only friends with him soooo much. It would have made things so much less complicated." 

"I don't blame you," Katie muttered. "I'd be disgusted if that jerk had a crush on me, too." 

"Honestly," Christie agreed. 

I held up my hand. "Hey, now, listen, guys- he's not a total jerk, really. I mean, he can be, but there are some really great things about him, too. It's not really fair to say he's totally bad." 

"Sure," Beth said sarcastically and I saw her back stiffen. Idiot, I told myself. I felt like kicking myself. I shouldn't have said that about Keith, even though it was true. I knew Beth still had to hurt inside sometimes whenever she thought about Keith and how he'd been so unfeeling to her last year. After the mess last year, I was sure she'd probably blocked out every good point she'd ever seen in him. I vowed never to talk about it around her again. She didn't need that. 

"So, what are you going to do about the history project?" Melanie asked after a minute of awkward silence. 

I shrugged as we continued walking. "Not much else to do but keep working on it. I'd rather not work at each other's houses anymore, though. Maybe just at the library or some other public place. Luckily, we really don't have that much left to do." 

"Are you going to tell him off?" Christie questioned. 

I gave her a look. "Tell him off? And say what? 'Keith, you idiot, quit liking me now!' Stupid! Besides, what if by some chance he DOESN'T have a crush on me after all? I'd look like such a moron!" 

"DON'T start that again," Beth snapped, clutching my arm. "I thought you'd finally faced up to facts. Listen, Keith Masterson still has a crush on you whether you want to truly admit it to yourself or not. Got it?" 

I rolled my eyes at her. She was probably right, but I still wasn't going to say anything to Keith about it. I'd simply be nice while we finished our project, then I'd do my best to avoid him for the rest of my life. As much as I didn't hate him anymore, my life would be a lot simpler if we didn't hang around each other at all in the future. 

"I *am* going to apologize to Randy, though," I said as we walked up to the entrance of Bumpers. "He's had the same feeling about this whole thing as you guys have, and I've been kind of short with him about it on a couple occaisions, which wasn't fair. I didn't really look at it from his point of view at all." 

The other girls agreed with me, and then we dropped all conversation, because once you enter Bumpers after something like a football game, there's no way you can carry on a conversation without shouting, and it's hard to shout and walk at the same time. After a few minutes search through the crowd, we found Tony Calcaterra and Chase Collins saving a booth for all of us in the corner. Once we were seated, everyone started talking about the football game, and I tried to get my mind off what we'd been talking about on the way over. (By the way, Tony is Katie's boyfriend, and Chase is Christie's. Both boys are athletic and could play football if they wanted, but Chase is a champion swimmer and doesn't want to run the risk of injuring himself in other sport, and while Tony likes football, he doesn't want to play it. They usually tried to leave the games early so they could get to Bumpers and get good seats for us.) 

After a few minutes of football conversation, I was just standing up to get myself a soda, when Marcie Bee came running up to me, panting for breath. 

"Oh, Jana!" She gasped, clutching my arm. "I'm so glad I found you!"

"What's the matter, Marcie?" I asked anxiously. She looked tired out, but she also looked very worried about something. That was obvious from the way she was gripping my arm. 

"Yeah, Bee- what's up?" Chase questioned, leaning forward in his seat. "You sound like you've just run a mile." 

"I came from the football field," she explained between breaths. "OK, see, I was waiting with Jennifer like I usually do for Jared to come out of the locker room because sometimes Nathan Porter is with him, and after about 20 minutes went by, we were starting to wonder if something was up because it usually doesn't take Jared very long because-"

"Mar-cee!" Katie wailed. "Enough! Just tell us what's going on!"

"Alright, sorry," Marcie muttered. "OK, anyway, suddenly Mike Dalworth comes running out, yelling to the coach that there was a fight going on in the locker room."

"A fight?" I whispered, my heart almost stopping. I had a horrible feeling I knew what was coming next. No, please not that. I'd die. 

"Between who?" Tony said eagerly, swapping excited looks with Chase. They were immediatly met with five pairs of angry eyes. Boys! I thought, annoyed. Honestly. 

Marcie bit her lip and looked at me sympathetically. "Apparently... it was between Keith- and Randy." 

"Oh no," I moaned, covering my face with my hands, even though I had just KNOWN that was what she was going to say. I bit my lip to keep the tears back. "This can't be happening! It can't!" 

"Don't worry," Marcie said quickly, putting a hand on my shoulder as Beth jumped up and put her arm around me. "When I left to come find you, Jared had just come out and said Coach Bledsoe got them to break it up." 

"Are they okay? Is Randy hurt?" I questioned worriedly, looking up, feeling the tears threaten to emerge. I would die, absolutely die, if Randy was injured. It would be all my fault. It still was my fault that this had happened in the first place... if only I'd never become friends again with Keith, none of this would have happened. 

"They're okay," Marcie assured me. "At least from what Jared said. A little banged up, but nothing serious. I guess Keith's a bit worse off then Randy, too." She added. 

"Aw, see, that's Randy for you," Tony said to me, giving me an encouraging smile. I think he felt sort of bad now for being so excited to hear about a fight. "He's one tough dude. He probably whipped Keith good." 

I groaned and felt a tear finally slip out. "That's not the point! I don't want them to fight at all. This is horrible! Terrible! And it's *all my fault*!" 

With that I twisted out of Beth's embrace and tore out of Bumpers. 


	30. Randy

Randy

I was in a pretty deep sleep on my bed later that evening when I was awakened by a tapping at my bedroom door. 

I sighed and slowly rolled over. "Come in," I said, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes. 

The door pushed open and my mom stepped in, holding the portable phone. Did I have a phone call? I wondered sleepily. But if that was the case, why was she bringing the phone up? I had thought I was grounded from all phone privileges. 

"It's Jana," my mom said softly, holding the receiver out to me. "I know you're not supposed to talk on the phone this week, but your father and I agreed that it was best if you talked to Jana once to get things straightened out."

I felt a genuine admiration for my parents. Were they cool or what? 

"Thanks, mom," I said, standing up and taking the phone. "I appreciate it. You have NO idea." 

She gave me a small smile. "Maybe I do." She paused outside the door. "You have twenty minutes, okay?" 

"Okay," I agreed. That wasn't really enough time, but it was certainly better then nothing. As soon as she closed the door behind her, I sank down on the bed and put the phone to my ear. 

"Hey," I said softly. 

"Oh, my gosh, Randy? Is that really you? Your mom was gone so long I thought she'd forgotten about me or something. Are you okay? I heard about the fight," Jana cried. 

I leaned back against the backboard. "I'm fine. Really. I don't know what you heard about what happened in the locker room today, but whatever- I'm okay." 

Jana took a shaky breath on the other end. "I can't BELIEVE this happened. I just can't. If I weren't talking to you right now with you admitting it really happened, I might not believe it," she took a breath. "I feel so horrible. I mean, this is all my fault. If I hadn't-" 

"No, Jana," I interjected. "This is NOT your fault. Hear and understand- you are not to blame for this." 

"Oh, Randy!" She wailed. "Yes, I am! Don't deny it, if it wasn't for me and Keith becoming friends, you two would never have had a fight. But because-" 

"No, Jana," I interrupted again, playing with the hem of my jeans. "Keith and I, we- we had issues. Issues that were bound to come up sooner or later and involve a fight like the one we had today at some point. You just, um, helped move things along a bit faster. Ok? And honestly, I'm glad you did. I mean, now it's over with, right?" I certainly didn't believe that last part, but if it made Jana feel any better, it was worth saying anyway. 

"Issues? Yeah, you had issues! The issues being my fault in the first place!" She burst out, making me jump. "You guys were perfect friends until I had that dumb idea for our experiment of dating other people last year, then because of *that* whole mess, you two came to hate each other! See? If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened in the first place!"

"Jan-" I started, but she kept going. 

"I'm always messing things up for you! Admit it! I cause you to lose some of your best friends; because of me, you get involved in fights that get you grounded... and... and the last year I almost got you killed in a car accident! Honestly, Randy!" She sounded ready to cry. "I think I'm the worst thing that's ever happened to you!" 

"Oh, Jana!" I scoffed. I couldn't believe this. Geez, she must be at an all-time emotional low. Jana NEVER freaks out like this. I had had no idea the fight would cause her to act in this way. "Would you calm down and quit being so ridiculous? You're bringing this self-denial on yourself, you know that? Does it sound like I'm upset with you? That I'm blaming you for this? That I want to break up with you because of this or for any of those other reasons you mentioned? Get real! It's because I care about you so much that I let myself get involved in these things." 

Jana sniffed. "You're just saying that." 

"I am not," I insisted. "I mean it! Look, let me try to explain this once and for all: to be totally honest with you, yes- you are the reason for the tension between Keith and me. That doesn't make you a bad person, though, Jana, which is where you're getting yourself worked up. You're blaming yourself for this, and it's not your fault at all. You can't help it if he likes you, and I know you didn't do anything to encourage it. Not intentionally, anyway. Unfortunatly," I sighed. "That doesn't change the situation. As long as Keith is trying to take you away from me, well- I can't just sit there and do nothing. I'm sorry, but it bothers me, and I won't let him get away with it." Then I frowned. "Except, wait, I forgot you don't think he really likes you anymore." 

She was quiet a second, then said in a soft voice, "No, Randy. I believe you. I mean, I-I guess I do. It's hard for me to believe it, mainly because I don't want to, but I do think you- and everyone else in school- are right about it now." She sighed. "I think I owe you an apology for that, too. For getting upset with you when you warned me about it. That wasn't fair of me really, and I'm sorry." 

I closed my eyes in relief. Finally. FINALLY she was seeing Keith's true colors. I wonder what made her come to see his crush on her? I thought. But I didn't want to ask her that right now. Somehow the timing seemed off. 

"It's okay, Jana. Don't worry about it. I know you like to give people the benefit of the doubt which is one of the reasons I like you," I said. "I just-" 

There was a knock on my door. "Randy, your time's almost up." 

"Ok," I called back. Wow, 20 minutes had really flown by. "Just a sec." 

"Do you have to go now?" Jana sounded disappointed. 

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm not really allowed to talk on the phone for a week, but my parents said I could talk to you for 20 minutes." 

"Is that how long you're grounded? A week?" 

"Yeah, that's really not so bad." 

"I guess so," she sighed. "I'm really sorry, though." 

"Don't be, it's NOT your fault, remember?" I said it teasingly, but I was serious, too. I honestly didn't want Jana taking any blame for this. She had enough insecurities as it was. 

"Uh-huh, whatever you say." 

"Good," I laughed. "That's the way it should be. Hey, I really have to hang up now. I'll see you Monday at school, though, ok?" 

"Sure," she replied, sounding a bit more like her old self. "Then I'll be able to see for myself how bad you're really wounded."

"Ha!" I scoffed. "Wounded? By Keith? Oh, please!" 

She giggled. "Alright, Mr. Macho Man, get off your high horse. I don't need you feeling like King of the World and getting into any more fights to show off your skills. Oh!" Suddenly her voice took on a 'take-charge' tone. "Which reminds me- promise me right now, Randy Kirwan, that you will not get into any more fights. Ok?" 

I rolled my eyes. "Jana..." 

"I mean it, Randy. Promise me- no more fights." 

"That shouldn't be too hard, Jana," I said seriously. "You know me. I don't like getting involved them. This was really out of the ordinary." 

"Randy, you need to hang up now," Mom's voice came from outside the door again. 

"Coming," I returned. "Jana, I HAVE to go. Talk to you Monday." 

"Ok," She agreed. "Monday." She sighed. "I'll be thinking about you for the rest of the weekend." 

"Just for the rest of the weekend?" I teased. "How about all the time?"

"Silly," she laughed. "Ok, I'll think about you all the time. Take care of yourself. Luv ya." 

"I will; luv ya back." I clicked off the phone. 

After handing the phone over to my mom and thanking her again for letting me talk to Jana, I fell back on my bed and thought over the current situation. No matter what I said to Jana about this fight helping to wrap things up between Keith and I, I knew that was a lie. This was still not over yet, and probably Keith was madder then ever. I sighed. I was really going to have to watch out for him now. At least at this point Jana seemed ok, though. It still really surprised me that she'd flipped out so much about the whole matter- I had had no idea she'd take so much of the blame on herself! Sure, it was because of her Keith and I weren't friends anymore, but geez! It's not like it was her fault she was so terrific. I smiled as I thought about her and how much fun we always had together. I would absolutely DIE if Keith broke us up. 

But he won't, I told myself. I won't let him. He'll be Jana's boyfriend over my dead body.


	31. Beth

Beth

After dinner Saturday night I asked my mom for permission to walk over to Jana's apartment. Ever since she'd run out of Bumpers earlier that day after hearing the news about the fight between Randy and Keith, I had been feeling restless. I hadn't been able to quit wondering whether I'd done the right thing by letting her go off by herself, or if I should have gone after her. I knew that she DID need some time alone to think things through, but I also knew I wouldn't feel easy until I got the chance to talk to her. I wanted to know if she'd talked to Randy for one thing, and I also wanted to know what she going to do now about Keith- would she still be friends with him after he tried to beat her boyfriend up? I knew she couldn't totally ignore him, though, while they were still working on the school project together. It was going to be interesting, no matter what, that was for sure. 

At 7:30 pm, I rang the doorbell of Jana's apartment and waited for her to answer the door. I knew it would be Jana and not her step-dad or mom, because those two always went bowling Saturday nights. Sure enough, a minute later, Jana appeared, in shorts and an old Wacko T-shirt that I knew served as pj's. 

"Oh, hi, Beth!" She said, obviously surprised voice. "I didn't know you were coming over." 

"Hi, sorry for not calling or anything, but I didn't think you'd mind if I stopped by real quick." I glanced down at her attire. "If you're going to bed, though..." 

She laughed and shook her head, pulling the door open so I could come in. 

"No, I wasn't going to, at least not right yet. I was just watching some TV. Come on in." 

I followed her into the living room, thinking she sounded pretty much like her normal self. I was glad of that, but I was also kind of surprised, because she had been acting so out of control almost whenever she ran out of Bumpers earlier. Which was totally out of character for her.

"So... how are you?" I asked, as I took off my jacket and slid into a chair opposite the couch where Jana had plopped down. She smiled and clicked the TV off. 

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," she giggled. I started to open my mouth and she held up her hand. "It's okay, you don't have to explain. I know what you're talking about." She shifted in her seat, tucking her long legs underneath herself. "I'm alright now. As you could probably tell from the way I left Bumpers today, I wasn't okay earlier, but I'm... under control again." 

"Glad to hear it," I said with a small smile. "Have you talk to Randy or Keith?" 

She snorted. "Why would I talk to Keith? Do you really think I would actually call him on the phone or go over to his house or something? Yeah right!" She shook her head. "I'm not planning on even talking to him unless I *have* to. Meaning, whenever we get together to finish our report." She sighed. "Thank God that stupid project is all over on Thursday. After that, I'm not even going to so much as look that jerk's way." 

I was a little suprised, actually, to hear Jana talk that way about Keith. She must be REALLY upset over him fighting with Randy for her to turn on him so quick. Especially after she had told us earlier today that while she didn't want to hang out with him anymore, she thought he was an okay person. Now she sounded ready to spit in his face. I can't say I was upset about it, though- I was glad she was ready to give up their 'friendship'. Maybe after this incident she'll totally ignore him from now on, no matter what he tries to make her believe; which would make me very happy. I'm sick and tired of that jerk hurting my friends and me. 

"Good," I said, leaning back in my seat. "I think that's wise. Keith really is a lot of trouble, Jana. I mean, I know you two were starting to get along, but I dunno... it's just hard to know when you can trust him." 

She shook her head, her eyes looking sad a moment. "I don't know if you can EVER trust him." 

I shifted uncomfortably. "Um, have you talked to Randy? Surely you aren't upset with *him* over the fight?" 

She stared at me. "Of course I'm not! Why would I be?" She picked up a soda can from the lamp stand next to her and took a drink. "And I did talk to him."

"Did you go over to his house?" I asked. "Is he okay? No black eyes or anything?" 

She shook her head. "I didn't go over to his house, so I don't know how he looks, but he sounded okay on the phone. I just called him earlier this evening." She hesitated a minute. "He wasn't really allowed to talk on the phone because he's grounded for a week, but his mom let him for a while." 

I smiled. "That was nice of her. Did he say who started the fight or anything?" 

She made a face. "Uh, I don't remember for sure. I don't think he mentioned that, though. We didn't really have much time. I just got a chance to make sure he was okay and tell him... that I was sorry for not believing him (and everyone else) right away that Keith did still like me." 

She glanced at me quickly when she said that, like maybe it would affect me weird, since Keith used to be my boyfriend. But I didn't even flinch. I was still hurt, somewhat, and mad when I thought of how cruel and thoughtless Keith had been to me last year when we broke up, but I can't say that I miss him. Not dating him has let me see him for the moron he is and I don't want to date someone like him *ever* again. 

I glanced at my watch and stood up, putting on my jacket. 

"I better go now, we have church tomorrow and my mom said I needed to get to bed early. I just wanted to check on you and everything." 

She smiled and gave me a hug. "Thanks, Beth. That means a lot to me." 

I hugged her back. "I'm glad things are getting back to normal again. It'll be nice not to have to worry about Keith trying to weasel in on you anymore." 

She frowned. "Yeah, as soon as this dumb history project is over, everything will be great. I really dread having to face him and talk to him while we finish it up." 

I gave her a sympathetic smile. I didn't envy her there, that was for sure. "You'll have to let me know what Keith says to you at school on Monday. See if he stays his distance or if he comes up with some sob story on how Randy started the fight and is just trying to make him look bad." I raised my eyebrows at Jana. "Be careful, Morgan, because you know he'll probably try to do that. Get you to be all sympathetic to him again." 

She nodded. "I know. I'm going to be careful. But thanks for the reminder, anyway." 

As I started my walk home a few minutes later, I couldn't help but wonder how Keith had fared after the fight. I knew his parents, especially his dad, were pretty strict, and they were probably furious when the Coach had to call them and tell them about Keith's little escapade in the locker room. I wonder how bad he got punished? I thought to myself, as I turned up my street. Grounded for sure, but I wonder for how long? A week like Randy? I shook my head. It would be longer than that. At least two weeks, and knowing his dad, maybe even a month! I couldn't help but smile a little at that. That would be really something if he got grounded a *month*. But it would serve him right.


	32. Scott

Scott

"Randy! Wait up!" I called, waving frantically at Randy who was about a block ahead of me. He stopped and turned around when he heard his name, then waited for me to catch up. 

"Hi, Scott," he said, with a small smile. I thought he looked kind of embarrassed. 

"Hey," I replied, nudging him with my elbow. "How are you feeling?" 

He shrugged and shifted his backpack as we started walking again. "Good, I guess. My shoulder hurt a lot over the weekend, but it feels pretty good now." 

"Glad to hear it," I said, then I nudged him again. "How about emotionally?" 

"Hey, who are you? Dr. Laura?" Randy teased, and I made a face at him. He laughed, then continued. "I'm all right. Grounded for a week, though." 

I shrugged. "A week's not too bad. Especially for a fight like the one you were in. Heck, I get grounded for a week sometimes just for getting into arguments with Brett." Brett is my younger brother who's in 6th grade. 

Randy nodded. "Oh, I know. I'm not complaining. My parents were actually pretty good about the whole thing. They chewed me out and everything, but at least they didn't *stay* mad." He paused a minute as we crossed the street. "They've been more understanding then I thought they'd be." 

I looked at him. "Did you tell them the whole story then? Like, Jana being in the middle and everything?" 

"Yeah. They wanted an explanation and like I was going to make up some story and LIE to them," Randy snorted. 

I shrugged. Not like I think lying's ever a good idea, but I'd sure have a hard time telling my parents that the reason I got into a big fistfight was because of some girl. Talk about humiliating. But then, Randy never lies to his parents (or anyone else for that matter). Maybe that's why his parents trust him so much, and it probably has something to do with why he got a lighter punishment then expected. 

"They even let me talk to Jana for a little while Saturday evening," Randy added. 

"Wow, even though you were grounded?" I asked, surprised. 

"Yeah," Randy nodded. "My mom said they thought it'd be best if I got things 'straightened out with her' right away." He made a face. "Like I could really do that in 20 minutes over the phone." 

We were both silent a minute. 

"This isn't over yet, huh," I stated finally. It wasn't a question. He shook his head. 

"Nope, I don't think so. Not by a long shot." 

"What are you going to do?" I asked as we crossed over to the sidewalk leading up to Wakeman. 

He shrugged. "I don't know. I really don't. All I know is I have to watch out for Keith. He's going to be madder than ever and there's no telling what he'll do." Randy grabbed my shoulder. "Promise to help me out, Scott, ok? Like, if you hear anything about a scheme he has to get back at me, let me know, ok?" He sighed. "I'm going to need all the help I can get." 

I nodded, even though I really didn't want to get involved in the whole mess. But Randy WAS one of my best friends, and I knew he'd do the same for me. And I really didn't want to see Randy get hurt or in trouble again. 

"Randy, hi," came a voice from behind.

We both turned around to see Jana standing a couple feet away. She glanced at me quickly to let me know she acknowledged me, but I could also tell that she really wanted to talk to Randy. Alone. 

I punched Randy on the arm gently. "Hey, I gotta go talk to Mark, ok? See ya around." 

"Ok, yeah, see ya around," Randy murmered, barely looking my way as he walked over to Jana who threw her arms around him in a hug. I couldn't help grinning and shaking my head, as I walked away. It was a good thing they were still holding fast, even through all this mess. It would be awful if they broke up due to everything that was going on. I glanced around the schoolyard, trying to spot Mark Peters. I knew he'd also been wondering how Randy had fared over the weekend. After a minute search, I still didn't see him anywhere, although I did spot Keith. He was talking to Bill Soliday and Derek Travelstead by the gum tree, and even from a distance I could see his one eye looked bluish-black. I started walking towards him, wondering what he was talking to Bill and Derek about, though I figured I could probably guess. By the time I reached them, though, they were splitting up to go different ways and Keith was headed for the school. I broke into a trot to catch up with him. 

"Keith! Hey, hold up!" 

He glanced over his shoulder to see who was calling him, and when he saw it was me he frowned. He slowed his pace, although he didn't stop. 

"Hey, Masterson," I said, gasping a little to catch my breath as I came up beside him. "How's it going?" 

"Oh, peachy-keen. My father's ready to kill me, I'm grounded for 5 weeks and my worst enemy is spreading all kinds of lies about me. Life's never been better, thanks for asking," he retorted, his voice full of sarcasm. 

I bit my bottom lip. Yikes. If Keith was telling the truth, no wonder he was so upset. Grounded five weeks!! Now THAT was cruel and unusual punishment. 

"Tough break, man. Sorry to hear that," I replied, shaking my head. 

He glared at me. "Yeah, I'll bet you are. You, Randy's best friend." He sniffed. "So how did Randy get off, huh? Did he get slapped on the back of the wrists? Did his daddy raise his voice at him maybe?" 

I frowned back. I didn't really dislike Keith, and I had actually considered him one of my friends even though Randy didn't like him, but now he was starting to seriously annoy me. Sure he'd had tough luck, but I didn't like it when he started bashing my friends, especially Randy, who didn't deserve it. 

"For your information, he got majorly chewed out and grounded, too." 

"Yeah, for how long?" Keith muttered, climbing the steps up to the school. "Two days?" 

"A week," I retorted, although I knew that sounded like nothing compared to Keith's sentence. 

"Whoop-dee-doo," Keith laughed scornfully. "A week! Big deal. I'd kill for only a week. Man, he always gets off easy." 

"What do you mean, always gets off easy? Randy never even gets in trouble," I snapped. "Unlike some people I could mention." 

"Yeah, I know. He's Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes, Teacher's Pet. Don't think I haven't noticed," Keith replied with a snort. "I never realized what a henchman you were for him before, though. In fact, I bet you're the one helping him start all the rumors." 

"What rumors?" 

"Don't play innocent with me," Keith snapped. "You know what I'm talking about. The rumors that say I'm the one who started the fight in the locker room Saturday, attacking 'poor Randy' because I'm such a jealous jerk. You know exactly what I'm talking about." 

I clenched my jaw and shook my head. "I hadn't heard that at all, and I can assure you Randy's not the one spreading it. He's been home all weekend and hasn't talked to anyone, except Jana on the phone Saturday night. And I don't think..." I let my voice run out, peering at Keith's face to see his reaction to that. 

Keith slowed down a little and I could see worry flash on his face. "...probably turned her against me, too..." he muttered under his breath. Then he turned abruptly away from me and started down the hall towards his locker without another word. I didn't follow him. I didn't have anything else to say to him, and I knew he didn't want to talk to me anymore either. But I did need to find Randy as soon as possible to let him know everything Keith had said and that, yes, Keith was still VERY mad. 

As I walked to my own locker, I wondered if Keith did have a plan to get back at Randy yet, and if he did, what it was. Half of me didn't even want to find out.


	33. Keith

Keith

School on the Monday following the fight was not at the top of my list of Best Days Ever... not like I thought it would be. I hadn't talked to anyone from school since Saturday in the locker room, and I knew that people would be curious to hear what I had to say about the fight with Randy, and that I would get hounded about it all day. Sure enough, barely had I set foot on the school grounds, when a group of kids rushed up and started asking me all sorts of questions. Who started the fight? Why were we fighting? Was I in trouble with my parents? Yadda, yadda, yadda. I didn't feel like answering any of them, (especially the one about being in trouble with my parents- there was no way I wanted to broadcast my being grounded for five weeks first thing in the morning), but I figured I should at least get my side in so that Randy wouldn't have the *only* say. I actually wasn't sure if he'd talked to anyone from school about what had happened in the locker room yet, but I soon found out he *had*, right after he left the locker room Saturday. Great, I thought, as I stomped towards the school after escaping the leeches. Kids had had the whole weekend to think over Randy's statements without even hearing mine. I couldn't help wondering what he'd said about the fight and whether I should be prepared to defend myself, even though I figured I already knew the answer to that. I then decided it might be wise to ask some of my guy friends what they'd heard. After glancing around the crowds of kids milling in the school yard, I spotted Derek Travelstead and Bill Soliday, two good friends of mine, talking by the gum tree and headed in their direction. 

"Hey, guys," I said as I stepped up. They were both so intent on their conversation that they jumped at the sound of my voice. 

"Oh! Hi, Keith," Bill said quickly, then stuck his tongue out as he got a better look at my face. "Ouch, that's some black eye you've got." 

I touched my eye gingerly. "Yeah, really. It's actually looking and feeling pretty good now. It was a lot worse yesterday and Saturday." 

"Were you banned to the house this past weekend?" Travelstead asked. 

I rolled my eyes. "Eh, weekend, try five weeks. My dad totally flipped on me." 

"Five weeks!" Bill yelped. "Geez, that's cruel! I can't believe he had the nerve to ground you that long. I'd run away, man." 

"I wish," I retorted. "Believe me, it's not like I haven't considered it." Then I thought of something. "Did you guys hear how long Randy got grounded? If he did at all," I added sarcastically. 

They both shook their heads. 

"No one's heard anything from Randy since Saturday. He *must* have gotten grounded for a while, too, that or else he decided to lie low all weekend," Derek said with a shrug. 

I decided it was time to get right to the point. "Speaking of Randy, have you guys heard anything about what he said happened in the locker room Saturday? Like, if he pinned all the blame on me or anything?" 

Derek and Bill looked at each other. 

"Well, it's kind of hard to say," Bill said finally. "You talk to some kids and they say Randy told them you jumped on him in the locker room about something and started beating him up, then other kids will tell you Randy really didn't say much about the fight at all. It's hard to know who's really telling the truth, if any of them are." He paused a minute, then added, "But honestly, most of the kids believe you're the one to blame for starting it and some are pretty mad at you for getting Randy into trouble. They think you started a fight with him because he's been telling people that you're after Jana. Any other girl you'd probably be okay, but, well... you know how Randy and Jana are. *The* couple, if you know what I mean. Most kids don't want to see anything come between them." 

I felt my blood start to boil and I clenched my fists. That jerk! I bet money he DID say I was to blame and *was* turning everyone against me. It would be just the kind of spiteful thing you'd expect from him. Now what was I going to do? So what that I could tell kids the truth- that HE had started it- I knew not many kids would believe me now. I raked my fingers through my hair as I said goodbye to Bill and Derek and headed for the school. I had to do something before my entire status at school was gone, but what? I had to get back at Randy somehow- there was no question about that. 

And then, of course, just when I thought things couldn't get much worse, they naturally did. I was almost to the front steps of the school when Scott Daly approached me. He had the nerve to diss me and defend Randy to my face, which annoyed me almost as much as his news that Randy got off with only being grounded a week. A week! I couldn't believe it. I'd kill for only a week! And *then* Scott reminded me of something I hadn't even (amazingly) thought about- Jana. What was she going to think about all this? What was she going to think about me? It didn't take a genius to figure out that she'd be on Randy's side. And what if she heard all the rumors that I was the one to blame for the fight? We'd be right back where we had started- she'd hate me. She'd avoid me like the plague. Well, of course, until Thursday she wouldn't be able to totally avoid me since we had to finish getting our history project together. We had about an hour or so work left on it, and I knew if she was mad at me, she wouldn't necessarily have to be pleasant to me while we finished up. It could be real torture. I sighed as I opened my locker door. What a mess. I wished I could just snap my fingers and make everything perfect. But that was an obvious 'yeah right', soooo... I was going to have to brave this thing on my own. 

As I turned to go to my homeroom, I spotted Jana walking towards me alongside Beth Barry and Christie Winchell. She was busy talking to her friends, which is why I didn't think she noticed me right away. But then, when I was only about a foot away from her and she still didn't look in my direction, I *knew* she was snubbing me. My "hi, Jana" that went unacknowledged was further proof of what I already knew in my heart- Jana really *had* turned against me, too.


	34. Jana

Jana

"See you tomorrow, Jana!" Melanie called out cheerfully as we split up at the corner Tuesday afternoon on our way home from Bumpers. 

"Bye, Mel!" I replied, waving back as she crossed the intersection towards her street. I inhaled a deep breath of cool, fresh air as I continued down Hilliard Avenue, trying my best to enjoy the beautiful fall sunshine and the colored leaves hanging on the trees overhead. But my treacherous mind couldn't fight back thoughts of Keith and my predicament with him for very long. What am I going to DO?? I thought miserably as I scuffed along. I had been ignoring him so far this week, but I knew I couldn't do that much longer since we had to present our history report in two days and we still had a little bit left to finish. I was going to have to talk to him and meet him somewhere whether I wanted to or not. And I didn't want to- while I didn't really think I *hated* Keith, I was definitely disappointed in him for tricking me and, besides- it made me nervous to be anywhere around him anymore. 

But how was I going to go about meeting him to work on the project? I thought. I didn't want to meet at either of our houses- too private- so I figured it would have to be at the library or something. But would Keith be allowed to meet me there? I had heard he was on restriction for a few weeks. He might be confined to his house whenever he wasn't at school or sports functions. Yet, I knew his parents also had to care about his grades, so surely they would agree to let him out of the house at least this once to work on something as important as our history project. I sighed. Whatever we decided to do, we'd have to do it soon. We were running out of time. I'll probably have to call him tonight, I thought to myself, wrinkling my nose. Boy, would that be uncomfortable. He knew I'd been avoiding him this week, and I couldn't help but wonder what he'd have to say to me whenever I was forced to make conversation with him. 

I was turning down the street two blocks from my house when suddenly I heard someone call out my name. I froze, instantly recognizing it. What's HE doing here? I thought frantically, trying to figure out what I should do. Turn around? Wait for him? Try to escape? But I didn't have time to figure anything out because a moment later, a blue bicycle came to a screeching halt next to me. Keith's bike. 

"Hey, Jana, thanks for holding up," he said, panting a little. 

I shrugged and stared down at the sidewalk, not wanting to make eye contact. 

"Look, I need to talk to you," he said quickly, getting off his bike. "I know you're mad at me again and I know everyone's turned you against me, but please just let me try to explain MY side of things." 

I started walking again. Immediatly he followed, wheeling his bike along beside him. 

"Jana!" He pleaded. "Listen, this is important. Stop, ok? Hey, will you just hold on a sec and give me a chance?!" He reached out and grabbed my sleeve. I wheeled around and twisted loose of his grasp. 

"Don't touch me," I snapped. "I mean it, Keith Masterson." 

He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Look here, Jana Morgan, I know this is uncomfortable to you, but believe it or not, I'm not exactly feeling my best right now either. Trust me, one of the last things I wanted to do was confront you like this, but I know I HAVE to." He paused a moment and ran his hand through his sandy blond hair as he glanced around nervously. "I know, I KNOW, you're upset with me right now, and I don't blame you after all the things you've heard. If they were actually true, I can understand how you'd want to hate someone like me, but the thing is- they're NOT true. I did NOT attack your precious boyfriend in the locker room, I never even confronted him on ANYTHING. It was just-" 

"So it's all RANDY'S fault then?" I snapped, clenching my jaw. 

He rolled his eyes. "Noo, but it wasn't all MINE either." He hesitated, glancing down at the ground then back at me. "Jana, I know you're mad at me and I know, too, that your friends have probably warned you against ever listening to anything I ever say to you again, but can't you please give me one more chance? Don't the things we talked about at the library mean anything anymore? I thought we agreed to try being friends again, and for almost no reason, you're turning your back on me. " 

I let out an exasperated sigh. "No reason?! Keith..." I let my voice trail off as I tried to get my thoughts in order. "Keith, you led me on. You tricked me. You made me believe you'd totally changed, that you didn't like me anymore and you just wanted to be friends. But that wasn't the truth- you wanted to be more then friends and you told everybody- everybody but me. Randy, my friends... no one could believe I was forgiving you after last year and they all figured you were up to something. They warned me about what could happen, but I didn't listen. I stood up for you because I wanted to trust you so much. And look what happened. As much as I guess I'm flattered that you um, well... as much as I'm flattered and everything, the point is, you weren't honest with me." I looked him straight in the eye. "The thing is, Keith- I don't know if I can *ever* trust you again." 

We were both silent a minute, only slightly aware that the sun was getting lower and the wind colder. Finally, he sighed. 

"So, really what you're saying is, you're mad that I still like you?" He said softly. I fought down a blush, but before I could reply he continued. 

"Is that just me, or isn't that kind of odd? Isn't that like, I don't know, telling someone to get lost when they compliment you on a painting you made or something?" 

I smiled in spite of myself and then he did, too. 

"Ok, bad anology, but don't you see what I mean? I guess I just don't understand where you're coming from exactly." 

"I told you- I don't really dislike you just because you still have a crush on me, but because you led me on to believe something that wasn't true- that you were just aiming to be friends. Friends have to be honest with each other." I took a quick breath, then continued. "And besides, it's crazy, Keith. Can't you see it could never, ever work out? It's totally pointless and I don't believe in wasting your time and energy on something that doesn't make sense." I sighed. "And it's getting me in trouble, too. Everyone's been telling me you still like me and I've been saying 'no way, he just wants to be friends' and then suddenly I get news that *you've* been telling everyone else otherwise! Then you get into a fight about it with Randy and I have to admit to everyone I was wrong about you. Except people don't always see it that way. They might see it as me knowing all along, and perhaps even liking it, and trying to keep it a secret. Do you see my point?" 

"Yes," he said simply. "And I'm sorry, really. The last thing I want to do is get you in trouble. Honest. I just..." his voice trailed off and he shrugged. "I just still like you," he added so softly I could barely hear it. I felt myself blush and I stared down at my shoes. What was I supposed to say to that? 

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. That was a dumb thing to say, but I couldn't think of anything else. I just wanted to get out of there- I knew I really didn't hate Keith, but I didn't know what else to say to him, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Hurt them more than I already had, I guess. I started to walk away, but he stopped me again. 

"Look," he said slowly. "If I try to, um, reform, can we still be friends? I can't promise I'll get over you right away, but I'll do my best to keep it inside. Really. I promise. Please give me another chance," he added, pleadingly. 

I bit the inside of my cheeks. Half of me wanted to say 'yes' so bad- he sounded so sincere and I could see in his eyes he really meant it. But isn't that what I thought back in the library a couple weeks ago? And what had come of taking pity on him then? I needed more time. More time to think things out... talk with my friends. I decided to try and avoid the question. 

"We really need to work on our project," I said quickly. "We don't have much to do, but we still need to make sure we get it done before Thursday. Are you free tomorrow?" 

He shrugged. "Guess I'd better be. That's pretty much our last chance." 

"So can we meet at the library or something?" 

He made a face. "Can I get back to you on that? I need to check with the 'rents on that one. I think they'll say 'ok' since it's for school, but I need to make sure. I'm grounded for a while, you know." 

"Yeah, that's what I heard. That's too bad." Then I thought of something. "Wait, if you're grounded, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home or something? You didn't sneak out or anything, did you?" 

He laughed a little. "Nah, football practice. We only got done a little while ago and I'll just tell my parents we went a bit longer then usual. They can't get mad about THAT. They can't prove I didn't come straight home." 

I nodded slowly, though I wasn't comfortable with the idea of him lying to his parents. 

"Well, I better go," I said, starting to turn away. "See you tomorrow, one way or the other. Call me as soon as you can about whether we can meet at the library or not, ok?" 

"Sure... hey, Jana?" 

I forced myself to look right at him one more time. 

"Will you at least THINK about us being friends again?" 

I paused a minute, looking away down the street. Then I turned back to him with a half smile. "You're on probation, ok? Probation. I'm going to watch you for awhile to see how you handle yourself. But I mean it- probation. One more incident and it's over. Got it?" 

His smile was huge. "Got it! Well, see you tomorrow." He got back on his bike, then turned and gave me one more smile. "Thanks, Jana. You really are terrific, you know that?" 

"I know- I just like to hear other people say it," I joked and he laughed. 

As I continued down the last block to my apartment, I replayed our whole conversation again in my mind. As much I still was disappointed in him, I couldn't help but admire him a bit, too. To actually admit to my face that he still has a crush on me- I knew that couldn't be easy. Still, though, I told myself. I have to be careful not to get carried away this time. He may be ok right now, but in a few days, who knows? He might be up to his old tricks again. I was going to be very careful this time around. And I meant what I said to him, too, about being on probation. I wasn't going to keep giving him more chances over and over. He was definitely going to have to watch himself from here on out- I couldn't afford another incident like this last one.


	35. Notes Between Beth and Mona During Study...

Notes between Beth and Mona during study hall

hey beth- can you BELIEVE this mess between keith and randy and jana? :-P it's SO startng to get out of hand. i feel really bad for jana- have you talked to her lately? how is she handling everything? she's looked pretty good at school lately. -mona

Mona- I know!! I can't believe all that's been happening either- what a mess. gag Jana's okay- she was pretty upset at first, but she's a lot better now. Get this though- according to Christie- who was talking to Jana this morning- Jana is meeting Keith in the library after school today to finish up their report for tomorrow!! ~Beth

ew!! she's actually meeting him?! if I were her, I'd be scared to right now. especially alone!!! hey, I think you should go along to sit next to them and glare at Keith the whole time. ha ha

Actually, I've considered talking to Jana about me doing something like that! Maybe not sitting there glaring, but sitting at a table nearby... just for mental support. I dunno though if Jana would prefer that or not. But really, I think she'll be fine. According to Christie, Jana said Keith's on 'probabation'- like, she told him she'd talk to him and stuff if he watched himself. You know, he can't try anything funny or else she's back to ignoring him again. 

do you think he'll be careful or try something else??

I dunno. If he's got any brain at all, he'll stop his tricks now while Jana's not hating him. But knowing the dumbell Keith is.... it's hard to say. 

do you know how Randy's treating Keith right now?

I don't think he's treating him any way at all! I think he's just ignoring him, and Keith's doing the same. I'm glad. Anything's better than fighting!! 

yeah, I agree! let's hope everything just cools down again. i bet things will, too, as soon as Keith and Jana finish their project, cause then they won't have to see each other reguarly anymore. 

You're probably right. At least I hope so. Ugh, looks like Mr. Naset's starting to glare in this direction. Better get back to French verbs. C U at Bumpers later!


	36. Keith

Keith

So far, so good, I thought rather nervously on Wednesday evening as I sat at a library table across from Jana. We'd been working nearly an hour, finishing up our project, and we were almost done. Everything looked pretty good, too. We had decided to make a visual to go along with our speech and it had turned out really well, if I do say so myself. And the report was excellent. Mostly thanks to Jana. She's a much better writer than I am, but then, I guess I'm better at doing the visual work than she is, so it evens up.

We really make a good team, I thought wistfully, looking up from my work a moment to glance in her direction. She was proof-reading one of our final drafts, one hand cupped under her chin and her forehead all wrinkled up as she studied our paper. I quickly went back to the papers in front of me, not wanting her to catch me looking at her. She'd been fairly nice to me so far, but I could feel some tension yet, and I knew I had to really watch my step around her these days. I had the feeling the smallest little thing I did that rubbed her the wrong way could be the end of any friendship between us, ever. 

"Well, I think that looks pretty good," she said suddenly, making me jump. I looked up to see her stretching her arms above her head and smiling. "The section you added at the last minute is really good, Keith. I mean it; those are some good thoughts." 

I shrugged a little, fighting back a blush. "Thanks. I didn't um, know if they'd fit or not." 

"They're great, I'm glad you decided to," she said simply, starting to collect her things. "I think the visual is finished, too. Mr. Naset should be pleased with it anyway." 

I made a face. "He's never pleased with anything." 

"Oh, be fair! He is too pleased with things!" Jana laughed. "He's strict, but he knows good work when he sees it. And this is good work. I think we should definitely get a good grade. We deserve it, anyway." She yawned and stood up, picking up our report and stuffing it into one of her folders. 

"I'll take this home and type it up for tomorrow," she said, then grinned at me. "Unless YOU want to type it up, Mr. Amazing Typer." 

I laughed. I had almost forgotten that nickname she'd given me back when we first started working on the project. "Oh, that's ok. I'll take the visual and be in charge of bringing that tomorrow." 

"Ok," she agreed with a nod. We got our stuff together then walked outside to wait for our parents to come pick us up. We'd both told our parents to come around 8:30, but it was only a quarter after, so we had some time to kill. For a minute we stood there on the front steps on the libary in silence... which was really uncomfortable. It was just so hard to talk to Jana right now, yet I wanted to say SOMETHING. But what? I glanced around trying to think of a topic, when suddenly Jana shifted her weight and something around her neck glinted in a streetlight above us. 

"Hey, that's a cool necklace," I said, leaning forward to get a better look. I really couldn't see it well enough to tell if it was 'cool' or not, but maybe it would get a conversation going. It looked like it might, too, as Jana immediatly started smiling. 

"Thanks," she said, holding the necklace up so I could get a better look. "Randy gave it to me last summer, before I went away to the beach. You know- when I was gone over a month. We knew we'd be apart a long time, so he gave it to me so I wouldn't forget him. I thought that idea was silly- like I could forget my boyfriend- but I *love* the necklace anyway. And what it stands for. I wear it all the time." 

Aw, how sweet, I thought disgustedly, trying not to gag. I forced a smile as I got a close enough look to see that the necklace was just a chain with a gold ring on it that said "Randy". Yuck, it's like one of those class rings or bracelets guys used to give girls to show their going steady, I thought. Well, I guess *some guys* obviously still do. I hated seeing that necklace. I wished I'd never brought it up. It was like Randy was marking out his property or something; making yet another visable reminder that Jana is so far out of my reach. It made me almost ill. Where WAS my mother?

"Oh, yeah. That's really, um, neat," I said quickly, with a nod. 

"Yeah, he didn't have it made either. It was a ring that goes down through his family and it's really pretty special and everything, which is why I like it even more. Cause, you know, it shows how much I mean to Randy," she continued happily, her eyes shining.

I wanted to ask how the ring could be passed down generation to generation if it said "Randy" on it (I knew Randy wasn't a 'junior'), but I really didn't want to continue on this topic any farther, so I just smiled and gave some totally pointless comment like, 'how nice'. Luckily, my mom pulled up about then and I was able to escape to the car. 

"Is Jana still waiting?" my mom asked after I called goodbye to Jana and slid into the passenger seat. 

No, mom, I thought sarcastically. I just yelled "see ya tomorrow, Jana" to the libary's front door. Out loud I said, "Yeah, her step-dad's coming for her." 

"Oh, I hate to make her stand out there all by herself. It's so chilly and dark and everything," my mom said worridly. She poked her head out of the car and called to Jana, "Would you like a ride home, honey? We'll be glad to give you one." 

"Thanks, Mrs. Masterson, but my step-dad should be here any second. I don't want him to come by and find me nowhere in sight, you know?" Jana replied. 

"Well, if you're sure," my mom said slowly. 

"She's sure," I snapped. My mom gave me a surprised look and seemed ready to say something, then decided against it. She waved goodbye to Jana then pulled off the curb and headed down the street. I rubbed my forehead sleepily and wondered how my life could be so messed up sometimes. 


	37. Jana

Jana

Over! Done! Finally! I practically skipped out of my history class Thursday afternoon. My project with Keith was finally done with. No more having to meet after school to work on it, no more having to be alone with him, I was *free*! And we'd gotten a good grade, too- an 'A'. Only two other pairs in the class got an 'A', although I thought a lot more deserved it. Mr. Naset can be pretty picky, though. But WE did ok, I thought cheerfully, flipping open my history folder as I strode down the hall to take another look at our report with the big red 'A' on the front. Ah, the rewards of working hard. 

"Hey, Smiley Girl, what's made your day?" 

I glanced up in the nick of time to avoid running into Randy who had just rounded the corner. 

"Oh, hi!" I replied, smiling even wider. "Just got out of history class- today was the day our projects got graded. Look!" 

I pulled out the report and held it up for him to see. He took the paper from my hand and moved over to the wall out of the way of the kids streaming by as they headed to their last classes of the day . 

"Wow! An 'A'! Great job, Jana, I knew you'd do well," Randy said with a grin, giving me a one-armed hug. 

"Thanks," I said, then added quickly, "but Keith did a *lot* of work on it, too. Anyway, I'm just so glad it's finally over!"

"So you don't have to work with Keith anymore?" Randy asked, looking me in the eye. 

"Nope," I replied, carefully replacing the report back into my folder. "Our project together is *over*." 

"Awesome," Randy grinned. "I mean, oh, too bad." 

"Ha ha," I giggled, punching him lightly in the arm. 

He laughed, then turned to go. "I gotta run or I'll be late for class. Talk to you later, ok?"

"Ok, sure. See ya!" I waved goodbye, the started down the hallway that led towards my homeroom where I had study hall now. I didn't really have much homework to do, but I was thankful for a nice easy period at the end of the day. 

"Jana! Where are you going?" 

I turned around to see Melanie hurrying up the hall towards me. 

"Oh, hi, Mel. I have study hall last period," I replied. 

She grabbed my arm and started dragging me in the direction of the 8th grade lockers. 

"Not today you don't- we have gym class today, remember?" 

I slapped my hand over my mouth. 

"Geez! I forgot about that totally!" Darn! "Oh, Mel- the last bell's about to ring, too!"

"I KNOW that," she said quickly, loosening her grip on my arm as I caught up to her speed. "That's why we're hurrying. I'm just glad I accidently left my gym shirt in my locker when I grabbed my shorts or else I never would have come along this way and seen you." 

I moaned in agreement as we rushed the rest of the way to our lockers. Frantically twirling my lock, I flung the locker door open and pulled out my gym clothes, then started to shut the door again. 

"Jewelry," Melanie said suddenly, pointing to my necklace, as she unfastened her hoop earrings. Ms. Wolfe NEVER lets us wear any kind of jewelry to gym class. Usually us girls leave our duds in our locker before going to the locker room to change so as to not run the risk of losing them in that chaotic place. 

I groaned, and unclasped my necklace just as the final bell rang. 

"Better hurry, girls." I heard someone say with a laugh from behind us. I glanced quickly over my shoulder as I opened my locker again to see Keith standing across the hall at his own locker. 

"You, too, Masterson," Melanie snapped. She still doesn't like Keith very much. "Come ON, Jana! We're gonna be SO late!"

"Coming, coming," I snatched up my gym clothes and tossed my necklace into the bottom of my locker. I knew it'd be okay if I did that- I kept an extra sweater at the bottom of my locker that would cushion the necklace when it landed. Usually I take the time to put my necklace in a really safe place like my coat pocket, but today I just didn't have time. I pushed my locker door shut with my foot and raced off down the hall after Melanie.


	38. Keith

Keith

I glanced down the hall after Jana and Melanie as they moved as fast as they were allowed to towards the girls' locker room, then glanced back to Jana's locker. She'd been in such a hurry when she left that she hadn't noticed that her locker door didn't quite shut. Well, I'll just close it for her, I thought with a shrug, picking up the books I needed for English Lit and walking over, my footsteps echoing in the quiet hall. I was going to be late for class, but I didn't really care. Ms. Dickenson was one of the more easy going teachers, and besides, we really hadn't been doing anything that major in class lately anyway. As I reached out to shut Jana's locker door, something shiny on the floor right next to my shoe caught my eye. I knew what it was before I even picked it up- the precious necklace Randy had given her. 

"Why's it on the floor, I wonder?" I muttered, stooping to pick the necklace up. "I would think she had a safe in her locker to keep it in." I figured, though, that since the girls weren't supposed to wear jewelry in gym class, she must have taken it off for safekeeping and accidently dropped it on the floor in her rush. 

I held the necklace between two fingers as I looked it over. It really wasn't that great- the only reason Jana could really like it was because her darling boyfriend gave it to her. I made a face. I couldn't believe I was actually holding the stupid thing anyway. 

"Gross," I muttered out loud, and started to toss the necklace into her locker. Then I stopped. I wonder what would happen if I were to take the necklace right now, instead of put it back? I thought suddenly, the idea just popping into my head. I wouldn't keep it forever, so it wouldn't be *stealing* or anything. I'd just... hang on to it for a little while. See how long it took Jana to miss it. 

A smile started to spread across my face as an image of Jana having to tell Randy she'd lost his gift floated across my mind. He'd be mad for sure- Jana'd said it was some sort of family thing, right? What would he say when he found out she'd carelessly misplaced it someplace at school? Not anything nice, that's a sure thing. He might even break up with her!

The plan was already sounding good to me when suddenly I got another idea- *what if* I turned up with the necklace? Made up something on how Jana gave it to ME because she secretly liked me, despite everyone (including herself) saying she really *didn't*? Of course, Jana would hear that and deny it, but how could Randy believe her if *I* had the necklace after Jana knew she'd *safely* put it in her locker? I didn't know her locker combination, so I couldn't steal it. I rubbed the ring on the necklace between my fingers as I let the plan flow through my mind. It needed a lot of work yet, that was for sure. But I would make it foolproof- I just needed some time to work everything out. And when I did, everything would go perfectly. I knew it. I couldn't believe I'd thought up such a great idea on my own. Sometimes I really surprise myself. 

"Keith Masterson, you are so bad," I chuckled softly, carefully placing the necklace in my pocket and heading on down the hall to class. 


	39. Randy

Randy

Friday morning I walked onto the schoolgrounds feeling happier then I had in a while. Not only was I off restriction tomorrow, but Jana was FINALLY done with that school project she'd be working on with Keith for what had seemed an eternity. No more did I have to hear about them getting together practically every night to work on the dumb thing. Finally, she was free of him, and out of any influence he might have had on her. Hallelujah!

Jana had also seemed extremely cheerful yesterday when I'd seen her in the hall after her history class and I figured it was for the same reason I was happy- well, and because she and Keith had gotten a great grade. I glanced around the schoolyard to see if I could spot her, and noticed her standing near a birch tree with her Fabulous Five friends, Shane Arrington, and Tony Calcaterra. I decided to walk over and join them since I hadn't gotten to really talk to any of them this past week, outside of school, that is. I would be SO HAPPY when my restriction was up- I hadn't realized how much I talked to people on the phone and internet and stuff before this. 

"Hey, everybody," I said, stepping up to the group. 

"Oh, hey! There you are- we were wondering if you were at school yet," Shane said amiably, slapping me on the shoulder. 

"Hi, Randy," Jana greeted me with a smile. I smiled back, then turned to listen to Tony who started talking again on the subject they'd all been discussing before I'd come up. A few minutes later, though, Jana picked up her backpack from where she's set it on the ground in front of her and turned to leave. 

"I'll talk to you guys later, I want to make sure I have plenty of time to stop by my locker before class," she said, giving a quick glance to Melanie and Christie who were standing across from her and then nudged Beth who was standing next to her. They all gave her looks back, and Katie nodded seriously. That's weird, I thought. Is something going on I don't know about? I looked over at Tony and Shane to see if they'd noticed it, too, but they were still talking. 

"Wait up, Jana," I said quickly. "I'll walk to the lockers with you." 

She looked slightly startled and glanced almost nervously at her friends. "Oh... sure... ok. If you want to. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. If you want to stick around and talk to everyone for a little bit, that's ok, too." 

I shrugged. "Nah. I don't have anything special to say and I'd rather walk with you anyway." 

In spite of the weird way she was acting, she smiled at me as we started walking towards the school. We started talking about something, and she laughed and chattered happily as if everything was totally fine, but I could tell there was something different about her, although I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Something was definitely up- she was worried about something. Or at least it seemed that way. I knew it was possible that it might have been just my imagination, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there WAS something wrong. I wondered if it had to do with Keith in some way... but I shook my head at that, telling myself not to jump to conclusions. I was probably just being paranoid. As we neared her locker, though, I could tell just by the way she was walking and how the tone of her voice changed that there was definitely something wrong.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked Jana as we stopped next to her locker.

"Hm? What?" She asked, turning to look at me. 

"I said, are you ok? You seem sort of worried about something," I repeated, leaning closer to make sure she heard me over the buzz of conversations and locker doors opening and closing around us. 

"Oh! Yeah, I'm fine," she replied quickly, drawing back a tiny bit and putting her hand over her heart as if she had a sudden chest pain. 

"No interesting news then?" I asked, tilting my head slightly. 

She gave me a puzzled look. "Huh? What are you talking about?" 

"That's what you said last week when you seemed out of sorts," I insisted. "Remember? At the movies? I asked you what was bothering you and you said, 'nothing', just that you had got some interesting news. I was only wondering if the same sort of thing had happened today." 

Jana raised her eyebrows. "Wow! I'm impressed. You have a great memory; I forgot all about that." She shook her head. "No, no interesting news." Then she gave a wry laugh, and muttered under her breath, "I wish." 

"Wish what?" 

"Nothing," she said quickly, facing her locker again and spinning the lock.

I rolled my eyes upward, fighting back the urge to scream. She was starting to drive me crazy with all these nonsense phrases. Obviously something was up, so why couldn't she tell me what it was? Did it really have something to do with Keith? I wondered. I had thought- or I guess hoped- that he'd be out of the picture when Jana finished the project with him, but maybe I wouldn't get so lucky. I sighed, and glanced back at Jana who was STILL fussing with her locker combination. I shook my head and turned to go to my own locker, convinced that Jana was indeed hiding something from me. But *what*? And why?


	40. Jana

Jana

Rats, I thought dejectedly, turning from my locker door to see Randy make his way down the hall to his locker without even a 'see you later'. He's mad at me, I groaned. Exactly what I *didn't* want to happen! 

I sighed as my stupid lock finally opened, allowing me to get into my locker. If only he didn't have to ask so many questions! Then I wouldn't have to lie. I hated lying to anybody, especially Randy, but what could I do? I couldn't tell him I had lost the necklace he'd given me! The neckace I prized above all the other jewelry I owned... how could I tell him it had just disappeared into thin air?

I bit my lip to keep the tears back that I felt threatening my eyes. Where oh where in the world could that necklace have gone? I know I put it safely inside my locker, I insisted to myself for the millionth time. I distinctly remembered throwing it inside and then shutting the door with my foot. I *know* I should have put it carefully into my coat pocket or something, but there hadn't been time. Mel and I had gotten in trouble as it was for being late to gym class. But if I had just taken a moment to do it...! I moaned inwardly. Then I wouldn't be in the terrible position I'm in now, not knowing where in the world it could be and having to be extra careful Randy doesn't realize I'm not wearing it anymore. Well, obviously if I didn't get it back soon, he'd notice it was missing, but if I could *just* find it before than... or at least come up with a good excuse to keep him satisfied until I really did get the necklace back. Wherever it *was*. I had already searched my entire locker and the area around it, once by myself and then with Melanie and Beth, and then two more times by myself. I'd even gone through my backpack and all my folders and even my purse to see if by some chance, I'd put it in one of those places... even though I knew deep down I hadn't. 

So where could it have disappeared to??


	41. Beth

Beth

"So, any luck?" I asked sliding into an empty seat next to Jana at the cafeteria table where The Fabulous Five usually sat during lunch period. Jana shook her head, not looking up from where she was slowly unwrapping her sandwich. 

"Nothing, whatsoever? Like, even after looking through your locker again, it still didn't turn up?" I asked in disbelief. Wow, this really was a mystery. I couldn't imagine how Jana's necklace could so totally disappear from the time she took it off for gym to when she returned 50 minutes later after gym class (and school for the day) had ended. 

"Nothing, zip, nada," Jana said, shaking her head again. She sighed and looked up, glancing helplessly around the table where Melanie, Christie, Katie and I were all giving her sympathetic looks. "I just don't know what to do next! I've looked everywhere I could think of and rethought yesterday afternoon at the locker right before gym class completely. The thing is, I KNOW I tossed it into my locker. And closed my locker door. So theoretically, it has to be in my locker." She groaned. "Realistically, it's *not*." 

Christie shook her head. "It is weird. Things don't just totally vanish." 

"Hey- hey, guys," I said suddenly as I thought of something. I leaned across the table and spoke as low as I could be heard in the noisy room. "What if someone stole it? You know, maybe someone's had their eye on it for awhile, happened to see Jana take it off, and took the opportunity to steal it!" 

"Wow!" Melanie said, her blue eyes widening. "You could be right, Beth!" She glanced around the lunchroom. "Do you think Laura could have?" 

"Stop, stop!" Katie groaned, holding up her hands. "It was an interesting thought, but totally full of holes." I started to protest, but she held up her hand again to silence me. "First of all, Jana knows she put it in her locker. And we all know the lockers have, well, *locks* on them that you can't just break into." 

"Laura broke into Jana's last year, remember," I interjected. 

Katie shook her head. "Yeah, but that was LAST year. Jana had a different lock than and a different locker combination." She paused a minute. "I suppose it's probable that Laura could have gotten Jana's combination again, but that brings us to the next problem. Why would Laura want to steal it? Why would anyone at school want to steal it? Just about everyone knows Randy gave Jana that necklace, so the real value in it is, like, emotional. You know? It's not as if they could steal it and sell it for a million dollars or something." 

"And," Jana added, "if someone stole it because they thought it was cool looking or something, well- they would have to be really dumb, because they would have to realize that I would recognize that necklace anywhere... in otherwords, they'd never be able to wear it for fear of being discovered." 

"I guess," I sighed, taking a bite of my apple and chewing slowly. "Hey, it was just a thought.... although I do still think it's possible." 

"Me too," Melanie said quickly. She turned to Jana. "I think you should keep your eye on all the girls around school today, Jana. If some girl DID steal it, maybe she'd be wearing it today for some reason." 

Jana rolled her eyes. "So what should I do then? Go around staring at people's necks?" 

We all had to laugh at that. Then Jana immediatly fell back into gloominess, rubbing her temple with her fingertips.. 

"What AM I going to do, you guys?" She sighed. "Randy doesn't know WHAT I'm upset about yet, but he DOES know something's wrong." 

"Did he say that? Like, ask if you were upset or something?" Christie questioned, taking a sip of apple juice. 

Jana nodded miserably. "Yeah, and I didn't really know what to say and he finally just walked away without saying 'see you around' or 'bye' or anything. And I haven't talked to him since then." 

I put my arm around Jana and gave her a squeeze. 

"It's okay, Jana," I said as optimistically as possible. "We'll find your necklace. Don't worry. It probably just got shoved under your locker or something. It'll turn up really soon I bet." 

Jana gave me a shaky smile, but I knew she wasn't convinced. And truthfully, neither was I.


	42. Randy

Randy

Saturday afternoon was another football game, and I couldn't help but remember the fight I'd gotten into with Keith just last week. Had it really been only a week? It seemed longer than that for some reason. Obviously Keith was remembering, too, because he glared at me when I came into the locker room. I glared back, telling myself there was no way I was going to let him get to me this time, when suddenly he smiled. I did a double take just to be sure, but yes- he was smiling. It wasn't a friendly smile, though, or at least what *I'd* call a friendly smile. No, it was more like a 'boy, have a got you this time' kind of smile. It worried me, needless to say. He was up to something for sure... what, I didn't know and was really rather afraid to find out. I also wondered if it had anything to do with Jana's odd behavior the day before. I shook my head as I remembered how weird Jana had been acting then. I saw her a couple more times Friday at school, and she even caught up to me once as I was walking to one of my classes and held my hand and talked cheerfully, but something was still going on... it was obvious. It was almost like she knew I knew something was wrong, and was trying to make sure I didn't find out what it was and get mad at her. I sighed. And I wasn't mad at her, I just wanted to know what *was* wrong! I hated it when she held back from me like this.. why couldn't she just tell me what was up instead of torturing me in this way? Maybe I'd get something out of her on the way home from Bumpers today, after the game. Hopefully, she'd be in a better mood today then the one she was in yesterday. 

The football game went well, we won again, though not by as big a margin as before. Most importantly, though, Keith and I were able to ignore each other, and avoided anymore run-ins. I was understandably feeling pretty happy as I finished changing and started out of the locker room, heading for Bumpers where I hadn't been for over a week, when I noticed Keith walking just up ahead, talking with Shane Arrington and Bill Soliday. I slowed down a bit, not wanting Keith to notice me. I liked Bill and Shane and enjoyed talking with them, but I figured I would get to do that later at Bumpers where I wouldn't have to worry about Keith, since he's still grounded for several more weeks and has to go straight home from football games and practices. I glanced around the parking lot. I was actually kind of surprised his parents hadn't stayed behind to escort him home. His dad is pretty strict. 

"See you guys later," I heard Keith call out as he and the other two reached the corner where they separated, Bill and Shane going onto Bumpers and Keith heading home. I hurried to catch up to Bill and Shane, glancing over my shoulder towards Keith's retreating back. At just that moment, he rehoisted his gym bag and the keychains he had attached to the bag's top zipper rattled and gave off a glare in the afternoon sun. I really would have thought nothing of it, except I happened to notice that one of his keychains looked gold. I stopped a moment and strained my eyes to get a better look. I was almost positive that Keith only had two keychains on his gymbag- one was a silver 'W' for Wakeman, and the other was one we got at a football banquet last year, also silver. When had he got a gold one? I wondered. Then I shook my head. Don't be silly, Randy, I thought to myself. He probably just got a new one, a gold one, from somewhere recently. Maybe it has his name on it. How stupid of me to wonder about it at all. New keychains on people's bags had never intrigued me before. 

Yet, for some reason I couldn't shake off a nagging feeling in the back of my head- a feeling that made me start quietly after him, just to see what the keychain was. I felt really dumb following him like I was, trying not to let him hear me while I did my best to glimpse his new gymbag add-on. What would I say if he turned around and caught me? 'Oh, um, I just noticed you had a new keychain and I was really interested to see what it was. I keep track of ALL the new keychains people get for their bags.' Stupid! He would never fall for that. He would probably- suddenly, we reached another streetcorner where Keith paused to wait for a car to pass by and I was finally able to catch up enough that I could get a good look at the gold keychain... well, it was actually more like a... like a gold *chain*... with a gold ring on it.... 

Just as I stopped in my tracks and gasped aloud, Keith turned around.


	43. Keith

Keith

"Randy?" I said increduously, definitely surprised to see my worst enemy standing barely three feet behind me, gaping at my gymbag. When did he get there?! Geez, I hadn't even heard him come up! But then I *had* been pretty lost in thought, I reasoned, and it wasn't like walking on the sidewalk pavement in sneakers made a lot of noise. As we stood there facing each other, my suspicions immediatly kicked in, and I wondered just how long had he been following me and why? 

"What do you want?" I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest. "If you're trying to get me to fight you and then get me grounded for the rest of the century, think again. I'm not going to let you bully me like that anymore." 

Randy seemed to snap out of his faze and glared back at me. 

"Get real. I didn't come to fight you. I don't have anything to prove to you." 

His words stung exactly like they were supposed to and I started to clench my fists when I thought better of it. I was doing exactly what he wanted me to, the rat! I decided instead to find out what he was up to. 

"Then why are you following me? Are you turning into a stalker now? Huh?" 

Randy gave a short laugh. "Stalk you? Why would I want to do that? Honestly." He pointed to my gymbag. "I just thought I saw something on your bag that belonged to me... and I was right." He copied my stance. "I want it back. Now." 

I dropped my gymbag and shoved it behind me with my foot. "What are you talking about?" I replied evenly. "I don't have anything of yours- you can call me a lot of things, Kirwan, but I won't let you call me a thief." It was all I could do not to laugh out loud! This was going perfectly. I had thought I would have to wait until Monday for Randy to notice I had the necklace... I hadn't thought he'd actually happen to see it today and follow me in order to get it back! 

"Then how did you get that necklace you have on your bag?" He asked coldly, narrowing his eyes. "My parents gave me the ring on it when I was 9 years old. You can check it if you want, as I'm sure you already have- you'll see that it says 'Randy' on it." 

I cocked my head, half smiling. "It's your necklace? Really?"

"Look, check it if you want, it-" 

I held up my hand. "Oh, I believe you. I mean, I know it has your name on it. I just haven't seen you wear it before, that's all." 

"No, you wouldn't have, because I gave it to Jana last-" he stopped suddenly and our eyes met. Neither of us said anything a moment. Finally, he took a step forward and held his hand out. 

"Give me the necklace. Now." 

I shook my head. "But it's not really yours. I mean, you gave it to Jana and well, if she decides to give it to someone else... what can you really do about it? It's not yours to contend with anymore, is it?" 

"There's no way Jana would give you that necklace!" Randy growled, his face getter redder. "For one thing, it has MY name on it! What would be the point of her giving you something with MY name on it?" 

I half smiled. "That IS pretty funny if you look at it that way, but you're seeing it all wrong. The necklace is her most prized possession... so it doesn't matter what it says. It's what it *means*. And, well, it doesn't take a genius to figure THAT out, lucky you." 

Randy's eyes were burning and his jaw was clenched so tightly I could see a distinct line. 

"I don't believe you," he snapped finally. "You're lying. I bet you stole it from her and made up this whole mess just to break us up! Well, let me tell you something- it won't work." He shook his head at me. "When is it ever going to get through your thick skull? Listen to me! You. Will. Never. Get. Jana," he said, clipping the end of each word. He pointed his finger at me as my mouth dropped open. "I won't let you. And it doesn't matter what you try to pull. So I suggest you give me back the necklace now so I can return it to her before you get yourself into even more trouble."

As his tyrade ended, I quickly closed my mouth again, and desperately steadied my wits as my blood started to boil. The NERVE! How dare he say something like that to me?! What a total jerk!! If only Jana could hear how possively he talked about her... it was disgusting. He almost made it sound like we were battling over property or something. Still, it made me nervous how he guessed so accurately what had really happened with me in the way of procuring the neckace, and I briefly wondered if I should really give it back to him this instant. No, I told myself resolutely. I had given my story, and I was going to stick to it. A Masterson never backed down; if I had to go down in the end, I would go down proudly, knowing I hadn't given in to Randy's threats. And I still could come out on top... I just needed a little time to think things through. I knew I could come up with a plan- I always did. I just needed some time... 

I reached around and picked up my gymbag, slinging it confidently over my shoulder. 

"Forget it, Kirwan. Believe what you want to believe, hey, whatever. But I know the truth." I gave him the chin-up. "Later." 

For a minute he looked shocked, like he couldn't believe I would stick to my guns after a speech like he had delievered. Then his eyes turned dark again and he smiled grimly. 

"Fine, if that's what you want, so be it." He started walking backwards, still staring at me coldly. "Just don't say I didn't give you a chance." 

Then he turned and started walking quickly back the way he came, leaving me to wonder after the exact meaning in his final words. 


	44. Jana

Jana

"Where IS he?" I moaned impatiently, leaning forward in my seat and craning my neck to get a better view of the crowd at Bumpers. It was Saturday after another football game and Melanie and I were seated at a table with the rest of the varsity cheerleaders. We'd already been sitting there half an hour and there was still no sign of Randy. 

"Maybe he's hasn't finished getting changed and everything yet," Melanie suggested, glancing around the room herself. 

I shook my head. "I don't think so. Practically every guy on the football team is here now. He'd have to be back there all by himself, which I highly doubt." 

Melanie took a sip of her coke. "Well, maybe he wasn't allowed to come. Like, maybe his restriction wasn't officially up till, like, 7 pm tonight." She suggested with a shrug. 

I smiled in spite of myself. "No, his parents aren't that picky- he said yesterday at school he'd be here today! He was excited about it too since he hasn't been here for over a week." I sighed. "I can't imagine where he is!"

Melanie looked worried. "He's not still mad at you, is he? I know you haven't told him yet what you've been upset about..." 

I shook my head again. "No, I don't think he's that mad anymore. I know he's still curious, but I talked to him several times after lunch yesterday, and he didn't seem upset anymore. And besides- even if he was mad at me, he'd still come to hang out with his other friends. He just wouldn't talk to *me* if that was the case." 

Melanie sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, Jan. Something just must have come up, that's all. Maybe you can call him when you get home." 

"I guess I'll have to," I murmered, stirring my soda thoughtfully. Suddenly, I thought of something horrible. "Melanie!" I gasped, turning towards my friend. "You don't think he could have-" 

"There he is, Mel! Over there! In the dark blue shirt- see him?" Mandy McDermott burst in suddenly, leaning across the table and motioning the direction of the jukebox where some guy she liked was standing. "Isn't he cute?!"

"Wow, yeah!" Melanie agreed, twisting her neck a little to get a better look. "He's really cute! What did you say his name was?" 

I sighed as Mandy started filling Melanie in on every detail of Joe Kent's life that she knew. I'd lost Mel now for sure. Oh well. It wasn't really THAT important. I had just thought for a minute that maybe Randy had run into Keith or something again, but that was pretty dumb. Randy was being extra careful now to avoid Keith, and I knew Keith was doing the same. Randy just must have gone home for some reason. Maybe he hadn't been feeling well or something. That thought immediatly made me sit up straighter and I realized that could very well have happened, and I thought I'd better call just to find out. I stood up and grabbed my purse. 

"Mel? Hey, Mel? I'll talk to you later, ok?" I said, tapping Melanie on the shoulder. "I'm going to go home and see if I can find out what's up with Randy." 

"Okay," she said, glancing up from her conversation with Mandy. "Call me later, 'k?" 

" 'k," I agreed, then on my way out waved goodbye to the rest of The Fab Five who were sitting at a booth with Tony, Chase and Brad Cochran. They waved back and Beth mouthed 'call me later', since I hadn't had a chance to talk to her yet today. 

Usually when I get home, I change out of my cheerleading outfit first thing into something more comfortable, but this time I immediatly tossed my purse down onto the kitchen table and headed for the living room phone. I knew no one would be using it because my mom and Pink were gone for the afternoon and wouldn't be getting back for another hour or so. I plopped down on the sofa and tucked my feet up as I dialed Randy's number. I was a little surprised that it barely rang once before Randy answered. 

"Hello?"

"Randy?" I said quickly. "Hi, this is Jana." 

"Jana!" His voice went from surprised to pleased in a second. "Good! I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible, but I wasn't sure if you'd be home from Bumpers yet." 

"Oh, really?" I replied curiously. "What did you want to talk to me about? And why weren't YOU at Bumpers?" I added quickly. "I waited for you for over half an hour. I thought you said you were coming today?" 

"Sorry about that, I WAS planning on it... but something else came up." He paused a moment, then his voice returned sounding as though he were climbing steps. "Hold on, I'm heading upstairs to my room where I can talk without being overheard." 

Now I was really puzzled. " 'Without being overheard'? Randy, what's going on?" 

I heard a door close in the backround, which I figured meant he was now in the privacy of his bedroom, then the sound of Randy sitting down on his bed. "Okay, now I can talk." He took a deep breath then said, "I need to ask you something and I want you to answer me in complete honesty. Okay? It's really important you do." 

I was a little miffed. "You think I would lie to you?" I demanded. 

"No, no," he said quickly. "It's just... I know you might be afraid to tell me what happened but I-I- really need to know exactly..." he hesitated a moment. "...exactly when you found out the necklace I gave you was gone." 

I gasped. The necklace! Randy knew I had lost it! I felt my heart start to speed up as I frantically tried to think how to reply without him getting furious with me. How could I tell him that I had lost it after carelessly putting it in my locker? I couldn't! He'd be so upset! And yet- and yet... he knew I didn't have it right now and he sounded... well, he didn't sound very mad. 

"Well, I..." I took a shaky breath. "Well, it was Thursday after school I guess. See, earlier I'd been running late for gym class and had to put it quickly into my locker and it... it just disappeared! I swear, Randy, I looked everywhere for it- even at home- and I can't find it *anywhere*. It's just gone!" I cried. 

"It's okay, Jana," he said softly. "Don't worry- I know where it is." 

My mouth dropped open. "You DO?" I was so shocked I almost fell off the couch. "What? How? I mean," I took another breath, "I didn't even realize that you, um, knew that I'd lost it." 

He laughed. "Well, I didn't at first. I mean, I knew you were acting funny, but I didn't know WHY you were acting strange. Now I do." He paused. "That WAS it, right? I mean, it was because you were missing the necklace that you were acting so weird, right?" 

I sighed. "Right. I knew I'd have to tell you sooner or later, but I kept hoping that it would suddenly turn up. I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was wrong, but, well, I just didn't want you to get mad at me." 

"It's okay, Jana. I'm just happy that it wasn't something else, really. I thought maybe you were mad at me about something and I couldn't figure out what I'd done." He paused. "But you should've known you could've told me what was up. I wouldn't have gotten mad at you- I thought you knew me better than that." 

"I do," I insisted. "It's just... well, I knew that necklace meant a lot and I knew you wouldn't like it if it I suddenly lost it." 

"You mean more," he said firmly. "But you didn't lose the necklace. Someone took it." 

I gasped again. "What?! Someone TOOK it? Like, stole it? How do you know?" 

"Because I saw him with it," Randy replied his voice taking on a cold tone. 

"Him?" I whispered, having a sinking feeling that I knew who it was. 

"If you're thinking Keith Masterson, you've got it right," Randy muttered. 

"Wha... but... how...?" 

"I almost didn't realize it myself, but today when I was walking over to Bumpers after the game, I happened to notice that Keith had something new on his gymbag that for some reason caught my eye, so I decided to follow him just to satisfy my curiousity, and sure enough- it was the necklace," Randy explained. "I can't explain how I knew to follow him to find out what it was, I just... *did*." 

I sat there in dumb silence, trying to comprehend everything he'd just said. I still couldn't quite believe it. How could Keith have my necklace? Did he break into my locker or something?

"Jana? Are you still there?" Randy asked after a few moments. 

"Yes," I replied slowly. "I was just thinking, that's all. Randy, how on earth could Keith have it? I mean, did you ask him about it or just see the necklace and leave before he noticed you?"

Randy laughed coldy. "Oh, he noticed me alright. And when I asked him to give it back, and he said he couldn't do that because it wasn't mine anymore and that YOU had given it to him!" 

"WHAT?!" I shrieked, this time really almost falling off the couch. "He said *I* gave it to *HIM*?! Randy, OMG, you didn't BELIEVE him did you??!" 

Randy's laugh sounded a lot warmer this time. "Jana, Jana, calm down. Are you kidding me? Of course I didn't believe him. I know you wouldn't do something like that." He heaved a sigh. "What I want to know, though, is how he got the necklace in the first place." 

"Yeah, me too," I muttered. "Randy, I KNOW I put it in my locker before gym. I distinctly remember putting it at the bottom of my locker and then shutting the door as I headed to class!" 

Randy was silent a minute. "Are you sure it landed in your locker?" He asked slowly. "Maybe it bounced out or something." 

I considered that. "Well, I guess that's POSSIBLE... I mean, I *was* in a hurry. Melanie and I were running pretty late. It could have fallen out, I suppose." 

"Is there anyway Keith could have seen it fall out, if it did?" 

I snorted. "Yes! Very easily! He was at his locker at the time." 

"Really? Are you sure?!" Randy cried. "Wow, then I bet that's what happened. Or maybe he grabbed your locker door before it shut or something. You might not have noticed if you were in such a big hurry." 

"Yeah..." I agreed slowly. I really think I would have seen Keith grabbing the door, but it was all pretty vague now, so I suppose it could have happened like that. I heaved an angry sigh. "In any case, he is such a rat! I can't believe he'd do something this!" 

"*I* can," Randy muttered. "What we have to decide now though is how to get it back."

"That's easy," I replied. "I'll go to his house tomorrow, or maybe even tonight, and demand he gives it back. He can't go around stealing things from people and get away with it!" 

"I agree," Randy said firmly. "But I think you should wait and ask for it back on Monday, before school in front of everyone. Kind of like you did last year when he was telling everyone you guys were going out. Pay him back, if you know what I mean." 

"I guess I could do that..." I agreed, turning it over in my mind. I really didn't want to wait till Monday, but maybe Randy was right. He shouldn't get off so easy. "But what if he refuses in front of everybody and makes up more lies, like how I secretly love him or something?"

"Jana, how could he?" Randy insisted. "For one thing, he wouldn't succeed in getting anywhere with you since *I* know the truth, you know? And even if you supposedly HAD given him the necklace, it's still yours, and if you decided you wanted it back, he'd have to return it, right?" 

"Theoretically, yes," I sighed. "But it's just so hard to know with Keith. As much as I hate to admit it, he's pretty clever." 

Randy snorted. "Eh, conniving is more like it. I wouldn't exactly say CLEVER. I mean, he keeps getting himself into all these messes that he could have easily avoided if he'd just thought it through." 

I had to laugh at his logic, which actually didn't seem too far off. "All right, Randy." I said finally. "Monday morning I'll ask him for it, on the grounds; but I'm going to do it whether or not there are a lot of people standing around, though. I don't want to make TOO big a deal of this, in case it backfires."

"It's not going to backfire," Randy insisted. "Trust me. I'll be there to back you up, and I'm sure your Fab Five friends will, too." 

"Yeah, I'm sure they will," I said with a smile. "In fact, I'll call them all right now. They'll be happy to know we know what happened to the necklace, but I also know they'll be furious to find out where it's been." 

I felt a lot better later that evening as I got ready for bed. My necklace was located and I'd (hopefully) soon have it back around my neck. The rest of The Fab Five had reacted exactly like I had expected them, too, with each of them promising to back me up Monday if I needed it. Except Beth. I hadn't gotten a hold of her, even though I'd called her house several times that evening. 

Oh well, I thought as I slipped under my covers. I'd get ahold of her tomorrow for sure and fill her in. I smiled to myself as I pictured her shock. She'd be really mad, I knew. She didn't think much of Keith anymore as it was, and now this... After a few more minutes of thought, I finally drifted off into the best sleep I'd had in the last couple nights. 


	45. Beth

Beth

Monday morning I ran most of the way to school. Not because I was so anxious to get there- I hate Mondays- but because I was running late. We'd ended up going to my grandma's Saturday afternoon after I got home from the football game and not getting back till late Sunday evening. Because of this, I'd gotten to bed later than I usually did and had overslept a bit this morning. I wasn't going to be late for my first class by any means... no, I always liked to get there pretty early so that I would have time to talk to my friends before we headed to classes. I was also dying to talk to Jana. She had left messages on my answering machine both Saturday and Sunday, mentioning that she had something really important to talk to me about that had to do with locating her missing necklace. I couldn't wait to find out what it was all about- she made it sound like she'd found it! As I skidded to a stop at the entrance to the school grounds, I immediatly noticed something was up. Kids weren't clustered in their usual groups chatting, but instead were all standing around rather quietly watching something going on near the center of the grounds. I pushed my way through some kids and tried to see what they were all so interested in. I gasped as I noticed Jana and Keith faced off in the middle of everything. Jana had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at Keith. He, in turn, looked his usual cocky self. A strange feeling of deja vu swept over me as I couldn't help noticing how much the scene resembled last year... last year when Jana accused Keith of lying to everyone that the two of them had a thing for each other and had been sneaking around behind my back and Randy's. Luckily it had all turned out right, and Keith had been put in his place, but it had been a really hard time for me all the same. I wondered what they were faced off about now. Last I had heard, they were pretty neutral. 

I glanced around and noticed Randy and the rest of The Fabulous Five were standing a few feet behind Jana and were glaring at Keith, too. Well, at least that was different from last year. I poked Heather Clark, who was standing next to me, in the arm. 

"Hey, what's going on?" I whispered. 

"Jana just accused Keith of stealing her necklace from her and telling Randy that she had given it to him," Heather replied, without taking her eyes off the scene. My mouth dropped open. What?! Jana thought Keith had taken the necklace?? Where had that come from? I figured that must have been what she wanted to talk to me about this weekend. 

"Why does she think he took it? I mean, how does she know he did?" I asked Heather. She put her fingers to her lips. I was a little bit miffed, but figured maybe I'd catch on if I tried to listen to their conversation. 

"--never do that, and you know it!" Jana was saying. 

"Look, Jana, I know you're upset this all came out the way it did because I know you wanted to break it gently, but don't try to pin it all on me!" Keith replied smoothly, his face not even flinching at her angry words. 

" 'Break it gently'?!" Jana repeated increduously. "As in, we both secretly like each other and were planning on letting it be known soon? Oh, please!!" 

"Jana, Jana..." 

"You are so full of it!" Jana snapped. "I don't know where you get off, making up all these lies! From all this, I would guess you HATED me and wanted to make my life miserable!!" 

Good logic, I thought, nodding my head. 

"That's uncalled for, Jana," Keith replied, shaking his head. "You're going to regret those words later, when this whole argument is over and I'm slow at forgiving the hurt you're trying to cause me." 

"I hope you ARE slow at forgiving me!" Jana cried, stomping her foot. "I hope you never forgive me and just leave me alone! Now," she ordered, stepping towards him. "Give me back my necklace!" 

As Keith just shook his head, saying something about that 'not being part of the plan', and the crowd started to mumble, I leaned towards Heather again. "Why is she so sure Keith has it?" I asked again. "Please, I don't understand!"

Heather gave me a surprised look. "How come you don't know anything? I thought she would have told YOU of anybody." 

I waved my hand impatiently. "I was away. She left two messages." 

Heather nodded and actually answered me this time. "Well, right before you got here, Jana accused Keith of taking the necklace out of her locker when she didn't shut the door hard enough Thursday afternoon on her rush to gym. She says that he took the opportunity to steal it, then told Randy that Jana had given it to him, as a sign of their 'secret affection'!"

My mouth dropped open. "Are you kidding me? Keith actually did something like that?! Wow, he's even more of a rat then I thought!"

Heather shrugged. "Well," she said slowly. "It's not really for SURE that he did steal it. I mean, Jana has no proof. It's just her word against his so far. Randy and the rest of The Fabulous Five vouch for Jana's side of things, but none of them actually saw him steal the necklace, so...." 

I shot Heather a disgusted look. "Oh please. Like that matters! Jana giving Keith the necklace! What a lot of rot." When Heather didn't reply, I groaned out loud. "Oh, HEATHER, please don't tell me you believe Keith?!" 

She just shrugged again. "From what I know of the past situation, I would say that Jana's the one telling the truth, but I dunno.... Keith's just so- calm. I mean, it could be that Jana really DID give him the necklace as a token and then got nervous about it and regretted it because she knew it would make Randy madder and wants Keith to give it back now... I don't know! I just think it's hard to tell who's right at this point." 

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that Heather was actually considering Keith's side of things! And if Heather was, then who knows how many other kids were, too. But how could they? I glanced back to Jana and Keith and noticed that they were still arguing. Jana's face was flushed and I knew she was getting really upset. I figured that she had expected Keith to give it back right away, especially if other people were backing her up this time. As I stood there chewing my lip and staring at the two of them, I had never had such a feeling of helplessness in my life. Jana was my very best friend and she was getting beaten by that jerk, Keith, again. I had to help her! I just had to! But how could I? Everyone knew I was her best friend and if I said, "Jana's telling the truth because she doesn't lie, and Keith is lying because he'd say anything to save his own image!", why would anyone believe me? They would know I was just trying to defend her, even though I did believe what she said. 

I stood there a moment longer, then finally came up with an idea. It was pretty risky and I wouldn't *quite* be telling the truth, but it was worth it. At least, I figured it would be. I couldn't think of anything else to do and I knew I had to do something fast, before Jana had to give up when the bell rang and try again later, giving Keith more time to work out a plan. So without another minute's hesitation, I stepped forward and throwing my head back, proclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear, "You're lying Keith Masterson, and I can prove it."


	46. Keith

Keith

I almost couldn't believe it when I turned around to see Beth Barry standing there, declaring to the world that I was lying. Didn't she know that by defending Jana she couldn't really prove anything? Everyone knew Beth and Jana were best friends and that Beth would say ANYTHING to save her. But hey- if she wanted to make herself look like a fool in front of the entire student body, why should I stop her? 

"Oh, really? Please then, do tell," I said with a smile. She glared at me.

"First of all, I just want to tell you what I jerk you are for starting all this," she snapped. "It was bad enough when you tried to bring Jana down last year, but to do it again...!" She shook her head. "Let's just say I'm glad *I* got out of our relationship last year."

Ouch. That one had a sting. I shifted my weight and frowned at her. "Look, whatever you think about me is up to you, but if you've got something IMPORTANT to say, why don't you say that now instead of wasting time bashing people." 

Beth lifted her chin. "Fine then, I will." She glanced around the crowd and raised her voice. "On the day that Jana's necklace was stolen- last Thursday- I had just sat down in my last period class- science- when Mr. Naset called on me to take some papers he had down to another teacher. On my way back to class- which was right after the first bell rang- I happened to pass by the hall where the 8th grade lockers are. I wouldn't have probably even glanced down that way if I hadn't observed some commotion, which I soon noticed was Jana and Melanie making a break for gym class. I also saw Keith across from them at his own locker." Beth had been making eye contact with the students standing around while she told her story, but at this point she turned back and looked me straight in the eye. I stared right back. 

"So? So what?" I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "I'm not going to lie- I was there. I've already said that and besides, Jana and Melanie obviously saw me there, too. I was at my locker then- I'm not going to deny it." 

Beth took a breath before continuing on. "I was going to keep going to class, when I saw that Jana's locker didn't close when she had tried to kick it shut, and as she was late for class, she was in too much of a rush to notice it was still open. I half started down to close it, when I saw that Keith was already moving over to do that himself. I decided then to just keep going on my way, as I definitely- with reason- did not want to run into Keith," she made a face and the crowd tittered. I rolled my eyes. Honestly- how immature. 

"Anyway," Beth continued. "I was starting to turn away when I saw Keith glance down the hall in the direction Jana had taken off, then seeing she was out of sight, reached *right into the bottom of Jana's locker* and take something shiny out." She paused dramatically as the crowd gasped, and my mouth dropped open. "Naturally, I kept watching to see what it was exactly and what he was going to do with it... almost unable to convince myself that he would take Jana's property right out of her locker." 

I can't believe this!! I thought angrily, clenching my fists. For a slight moment, I thought maybe- just maybe- Beth had actually seen me take Jana's necklace, but with a lie like that, that I took it out of her locker! I knew now for sure that she wasn't telling the truth and was just trying to defend Jana and make me look bad at one time. She always HAD been a good actress.

"---it was then I noticed that Keith had her NECKLACE, the one she always wore, and after taking it right out of her locker, looked at it a moment, then put it into his pocket...." 

"It was on the *floor*, not in her locker!" I snapped furiously, unable to hold my anger any longer. "I would never ever take something out of someone's lock-" Suddenly I stopped in the midst of my tirade, and then somehow managed to keep from slapping a hand over my mouth. OMG!! I had just said I'd taken it from the FLOOR!! I had admitted the truth out loud, without thinking!! How could I have let her get me that angry?!

"AHA!" Beth exclaimed, pointing her fingr at me and breaking into a wide smile. The crowd burst into mumblings and exclaimations while I prayed for the ground to swallow me whole. OMG. I couldn't believe it! I had just given myself away!! How could I have done that?! I felt slightly dizzy as I glanced around at all people staring at me wide eyed- including Jana. 

"You- you..." she murmered, her mouth open. "You really DID steal my necklace. I mean, I knew you must have, but I almost didn't want to believe it... but... I..." She trailed off and shook her head slowly. I swallowed hard and looked away, never feeling so low in my life. It was one thing to actually steal the necklace, and another thing to have it completely come out in the worst way possible in front of the entire student body. Finally, I looked back up at Beth, who was still standing in the same position she'd been in a moment before, though now with her arms crossed across her chest and a triumphant look on her face. I felt anger wash over me again as I thought about how she'd trapped me. Whether she'd really seen me or not, she'd known how to get me to condemn myself, and I hated her all the more for it. 

"You liar..." I seethed, aware that people weren't paying much attention now that the truth was out, and were in their little groups again, most likely gossiping about me and what a jerk I was. 

"Me? *I'm* the liar?" She laughed coldy. "Who was it only 10 minutes ago insisted that Jana had GIVEN him the necklace as I token of affection, then moments ago admitted to stealing it right after she left the scene?" 

"You weren't there," I snapped, even though I wasn't positive whether she really had been or not. "You just made it up to trap me... so you lied too."

"Then if that's the case, I must have guessed pretty accurately," she retorted. "Anyway, whether I lied or not, YOU'RE the one in the wrong. I was merely defending my best friend." 

I started to say something else, but stopped. It was no use. I couldn't save myself now, so what was the point? I sighed and shrugged, saying slowly, "I was going to put it back, I was. I only picked it up at first to put it into her locker... I don't really know why I took it...." 

"I don't either," Beth replied briskly. Then she pointed to Jana. "Now, give her her necklace back. This minute before I tell Mr. Bell everything. I don't think think you want to be grounded for TWO months, do you?" 

I glared at her, but reached into my backpack, where I had put the necklace, anyway. Slowly I turned to Jana and dropped it into her hand. 

"Sorry," I said softly, without looking at her. I couldn't have if I wanted to. 

"So am I," she responded quietly. I nodded and turned back towards the school building and made my way to my locker. Defeated.


	47. Jana

Jana

It took me a few seconds after Keith put my necklace back into my hand to really compute everything that had just happened. Wow, everything had just happened so fast! One minute Keith was smooth talking his way to victory, the next he was actually admitting to stealing my necklace! 

"Beth!" I cried, running over and throwing my arms around her. "You were wonderful!! I can't believe you were able to do that!" 

She laughed and hugged me back. "I really can't either! I just knew I had to do SOMETHING... I couldn't let him get away with all his lies." 

As the rest of The Fab Five came up and hugged Beth, too, followed by Randy who came up and hugged ME, I shook my head in puzzlement. 

"But Beth, I'm so confused. How did you know Keith had the necklace? I mean, I'd never even discussed that option with you! I was going to tell you how Randy had caught him with it Saturday after the game, but you weren't home all weekend, so how did you realize he had it?" 

"Yeah, and if you KNEW he had it, why didn't you say so?" Melanie demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't believe you didn't tell us the most important part of the puzzle!!" 

Beth laughed and shook her head. "Honestly, it amazingly had never even crossed my mind that Keith might have stolen your necklace till I got on the school grounds this morning. When I arrived, everyone was standing around watching you and Keith arguing, and I was so confused, I asked Heather Clark about what was going on, and she just said you were telling everyone he stole it, while he insisted you'd given it to him." Beth took a deep breath. "The thing was, Heather didn't really know who to believe. She said she thought you were probably the one telling the truth, but that there was no proof... only your word against Keith's. I couldn't believe she'd say that, but then I figured that if she was on that line of thought, a lot of other kids probably were, too. So I realized the only thing I could do to help was tell everyone I'd seen him take it. And amazingly, it worked out perfectly." 

"So you didn't really see him take it," Christie stated, raising her eyebrows. Beth shook her head. 

"Nope, I just thought about how Melanie and Jana had seen him at his locker the same time they were going to class and put together what I thought he might have done." She paused a second, then added. "I WAS telling the truth about delivering some papers from Mr. Naset to another teacher at that time. But in truth, I didn't go anywhere NEAR the 8th grade lockers, I was practically on the other side of the building. But I knew Keith wouldn't know that, and I figured if he really wanted to test my theory, he could ask Mr. Naset about it and Mr. Naset could back me up by saying that yes, I did deliever some papers for him at that time." 

We all couldn't help shaking our heads in wonder.

"Wow, Beth- you can think so FAST!" Melanie cried. "I'd never ever be able to do that! I'd make mistakes all over the place. Thank God for your quick thought process." 

"And acting ability," Katie grinned, slapping Beth on the back. "You were so convincing that *I* believed you!" 

"How did you know to trap him by saying he took it from my locker, when he'd really picked it up off the floor?" I asked, still a bit confused. 

Beth grinned. "I didn't. I had no idea whether he'd taken it out of your locker or what. Heck, I didn't even know for sure whether he'd taken it at that time or not! I just figured he MUST have, since it was when you got back from gym class that you missed it, and he had a perfect opportunity. I was really just trying to come up with a convincing enough story that everyone would believe- I knew nobody would believe me if I just said something like 'Jana's telling the truth cause Keith's such a jerk!' and that I needed a good solid story." She smiled at me. "It actually turned out better that I was wrong about where he took the necklace from exactly and that it made him so upset that he let the truth out himself." 

"Yeah, I agree," Randy said, speaking up for the first time. He smiled at Beth. "It worked out perfectly- he turned himself in so that no one can doubt the truth now. Way to go, Beth!" 

She mock-bowed and we all laughed. 

"I still can't believe he actually admitted the truth," Katie said, shaking her head. 

"I don't think he meant to confess!" I laughed. "I really think he just got so mad at Beth for making it sound like he was not only horrible for taking the necklace, but taking it out of my LOCKER, that he just couldn't stop himself." 

"Or he could just be a dumb blonde," Christie grinned and we all cracked up, mainly because Christie has blonde hair. 

Just then the first bell ring and we all started making our way to the school. 

"I have one more question," I said to Beth as we started up the steps. "What if someone today asks you that if you knew he'd stolen it all this time, why you didn't, for instance, tell me? I'm sure everyone can tell I didn't know you'd 'seen' him take it. I didn't exactly help you out there today- I know I looked just as suprised at what you were saying as I felt," I added apoligetically. 

Beth shrugged. "No matter. I'll just tell anyone who asks that I was only trying to solve things on my own- that I wanted to confront him alone, tell him what I'd seen, and make him give it back before I told everyone. I'll say I was just trying to make it easier for you because I knew that if you found out about it, you'd accuse him in front of everyone like you did this morning. And then I can tell them that when I arrived today, I saw I was too late and had to expose him like I did." She grinned at me. "Don't worry, I'll be able to pull it off." 

I smiled back. "I have no doubt about that! After today, I think you can pull off just about ANYTHING!"


	48. Keith

Keith

Well, in two more days I'll only have 3 weeks left of being a prisoner, I thought drily as I rode my bike home from football practice Thursday afternoon. It was a beauiful fall day, sunny and slightly chilly, with a slight breeze that was enough to send the last of the leaves down. I only wished I could enjoy it. But no chance there- not when my life was such a wreck. The last few days at Wacko hadn't been the greatest, to put it lightly. After Beth tricked me into admitting I'd taken Jana's stupid, stupid necklace, just about every kid in school was giving me the cold shoulder. Well, maybe not most of the underclassman, but I didn't associate with them anyway, so what did it matter what they thought? The important people were the ones in my grade... and all the girls and even most of the boys were treating me pretty cooly. A couple of the boys actually thought it was hilarious how I had turned myself in and gotten beat by a girl (my ex to boot), but a lot of them, especially Randy's close friends- Shane Arrington, Tony Calcaterra and Scott Daly to name a few- thought it was pretty low of me to not only steal it, but then lie about it. And the girls, well... they were a lot meaner than just ignoring me. For instance, a couple girls I'd known from grade school had left a pretty nasty note on my locker Monday after school, and then at lunch on Tuesday when I'd sat down at a lunch table where Bill Kingman was sitting (he was still treating me about the same), all five of the girls who'd been seated there, too, stood up at the same time and sailed off to a different table without a word! Of course, only the entire cafeteria saw it and snickered, but what did I care? I'd had a lot of people down on me before and I'd survived- I'd do it again. In a few weeks, I knew things would be back to normal with me and the guys anyway. And probably a lot of the girls would be over it by then, too. Especially the girls who weren't good friends with Jana, like The Fantastic Foursome. 

But that still didn't make me feel much better NOW. I couldn't ignore the fact that Jana hated me again, and with reason. I knew it'd been dumb of me to steal her necklace... to think I could break her and Randy up with it and then somehow squeeze in. I don't know what I'd been thinking... except maybe just that I thought somehow, just somehow, I'd get Jana in the end. But now I was farther from that than ever. How did things get here? I wondered, slowing down a bit as I turned a corner. Only a few weeks ago, Jana and I were pretty good friends and things were looking so great. And now... 

"Dang!" I cried as I noticed a kid's toy in the center of the sidewalk where I'd been riding and swung around quickly to try and avoid it. But I swung too much and I lost my balance. I managed to catch myself gently as I fell off my bike, but in trying to keep my bike from crashing onto my legs, my backpack dropped off. Unfortunatly, for some reason I hadn't had the zipper zipped up much and my notebook and half of my books fell out and scattered on the sidewalk. I sat there a moment, holding onto my bike and gazing around at the mess, knowing it must be such a comical sight that people in the surrounding houses had be standing by their windows laughing their heads off. I sighed, not even really caring. There always was that saying that when things reach rock bottom, there's no place to go but up. At least I had THAT to hang onto. As I started to move, someone reached down and picked my bike up, then leaned it on its kickstand. 

"Need some help?" 

I glanced up and was startled to see Jana of all people standing there. I had been avoiding her like the flu all week because I didn't want to face her wrath. But she didn't look too mad right now. Not exactly happy, but actually sort of amused. Not that I blamed her. 

"Um, sure," I said slowly, scrambling to my feet. "I, uh, had kind of a spill." I added quickly, picking up my backpack and stuffing my notebook back into it. 

"Yeah, I noticed," she replied with a hint of laughter in her voice, reaching down to gather some papers that had escaped my notebook and were threatening to blow away. I went to work myself, trying to concentrate on collecting my books and ignoring how pretty the fall sunshine looked on her hair. 

A moment later, Jana handed me the last book and started to turn away. "Well, that's the last of it." 

"Thanks," I replied quickly, then I reached out and touched her arm. "Jana... I mean, can I... um, well... I... I mean..."

She turned back around to face me, her expression blank. 

I sighed and made a face. "You're not helping." 

She actually laughed. "Helping? Helping you do what? Stutter out nonsense sentences? Believe me, you're doing fine without MY assistance." 

"Very funny," I retorted, swinging my backpack on. "Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"You already did, Keith. Remember? After you gave me my necklace back." Her hand automatically went up to her neck where she began fingering the chain. 

"I know, and I meant it then. But I just wanted to... well, I don't know. I feel like saying sorry isn't enough. What I mean is... I want to make it up to you, but I don't know how." 

She sighed and looked up at the tree above us. 

"Just leave me alone," she replied calmly. "Quit coming to me talking about how you just want to be friends, then pulling ridiculous pranks that almost cost me my reputation. Or getting under my boyfriend's skin just for kicks, and then after everything, coming and apologizing, promising to change but never actually doing it." She looked me squarly in my eyes. "That's what you can do to make it up to me." 

I swallowed hard and stared down at the sidewalk. She was actually telling me to get out of her life... but as much as I hated to admit it, the points she made against me were valid. I had majorly screwed up this time, and I *had* to pay the consequences. Those consequences this time being losing Jana's friendship. 

Suddenly she reached out and touched my shoulder. When I looked up at her, she didn't look annoyed anymore, she just looked sad. "I wanted to be your friend, Keith, I really did," she said wistfully. "Not at first, I have to admit. I couldn't help remembering what a jerk you'd been to me last year, and especially to Beth, who I think finally got some peace from your treatment to her when she got to put you in your place Monday morning." 

She was probably right about that, I thought. Though it still didn't excuse her from it. At least when I broke up with her, I didn't wreck HER reputation.

"But then after I decided to give you a chance and spent some time with you on our school project," Jana continued. "I started to see that you have some really good points."

"Yeah? Like what?" I challenged sarcastically. "Please give me a few in case I have to defend myself against more members of the We Hate Keith Masterson club this week." 

She shook her head. "You brought this all on yourself, Keith, and you know it." She sighed and pushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Look, I just think that although you can be a a really insensitive jerk, you might not be so bad if you just tried harder. What I mean to say is, that under the outside jerk, you have potential." The she shook her head again, and waved her hand. "I shouldn't have said all that- I really have to get home. See ya." 

"No, wait, Jana," I said quickly. "I deserve anything bad you said about me, and I appreciate the um, compliments. But no matter what I am- please, can't you forgive me? Again?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Boy, this sounds familar. Look Keith- I think it's pretty pointless for me to 'forgive you' and all that AGAIN, because so far, it really hasn't done much good. What time is this? Third, fourth? How long is this going to go on? Like, if I were to say 'let's be friends' again, what are you going to pull next that'll come close to ruining my life?" 

I cringed. "I know, I know. I haven't been exactly Mr. Consistency... or maybe I have." I grinned and she rolled her eyes again. "But in all seriousness," I added quickly. "Please give me one more chance. Just one. That's all I ask. Please please please. I promise I won't do anything this time!" 

"Keith-" 

"No, really! I mean it." I got down on my knees in front of her and held my clasped hands up towards her. Might as well do this all out if I'm going to do it at all. "If you forgive me just this one more time, I'll be a new man. I promise. I won't bug you, I won't get your boyfriend mad- at least I'll try not to-, I'll go out with lots of other girls and not hit on you, I'll tell everyone that I don't like you like that at all anymore and if *I* say that, then they'll HAVE to believe it-" I babbled. 

"Keith!!" Jana half squealed, half laughed, stopping me in the middle of my speech. "Get up, you idiot! What if someone from school passed by?!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me up, laughing. Then she sighed and started playing with her necklace again. "I'd really like to believe you, Keith. Honest. But I just feel like I can't trust you at all. Do you have any idea what my friends would say if I told them I forgave you? Again? They'd think I'd gone crazy." 

I made a face. "I realize that, but... look, Jana. I'm really not stupid. I know I've totally blown any tiny chance I may have had with you. So it's not like I think I can get somewhere with you, at least any time within the next 40 years." 

Jana smiled. Then looked serious again. "Then why do you want me to forgive you? What's the new trick up your sleeve? If you have a crush on one of The Fab Five now, you better forget it." 

I laughed. "No, no, no. No trick- promise." I held up hands in surrender. "I just want to know that you don't hate me."

"I don't hate you, Keith."

"Ok, but what about like me? As a friend, obviously," I added quickly. "Would you be willing to be nice to me in public, not just nice to me when no one's watching?" 

"Well, I wouldn't come up and hug you if that's what you mean," Jana said. 

I rolled my eyes. "Duh. But I mean it- could you? Could we try the friends thing one more time? I swear on my life that if I blow it again and break your trust, you can do whatever you want to me. Cut my leg off, pour scalding oil over me- anything. I mean it." 

Jana tilted her head and looked me straight on. "You're serious, aren't you?" 

"I've learned my lesson!" I said quickly. And I had. Well, I think I did. 

"Yeah, sure," Jana laughed. Then she sighed. "Look, I'll have to think about it. I distinctly remember a conversation a LOT like this one only a little over a week ago, and look what happened after that, but... I don't really see the point in totally ignoring you forever." She looked at me again. "I'm not going to say you can sit with my friends and me in Bumpers or anything like that ever, or hang around anytime when I'm with my friends, mainly because they'd freak. But I don't think we have to be on the level where I ignore you and diss you and stuff." She shrugged. "I dunno. It's so hard to say right now." 

"I know," I agreed. "I really blew it this time, didn't I?" 

"Yeah, big time," she replied. She frowned at me. "I just can't believe you'd do that. Actually STEAL my property and then lie about it! I mean honestly, Keith? What were you thinking?" 

"I don't know, honest I don't." I shook my head. "I guess I thought that somehow it would break you and Randy up. I don't really know how I would have gotten in there, but for a moment, it really seemed like it would work." I sighed. "I think if I'd had more time to think it through, I would never have done it. But I had only a few seconds and I knew I had to take it or leave it. It was really stupid, I admit. And I'm really, really sorry. I am. Like you said on the school grounds, from all the stuff I pull, it seems like I hate you."

"Well, it does end up seeming that way," she laughed. She glanced at her watch. "Man, I really have to go. I promised my mom I'd start dinner tonight." She glanced at me. "Aren't you still on restriction?" 

"23 days to go!" I cheered, and she giggled. 

"Poor guy," she said with a grin. "I do feel bad for you in that respect. Can't you get your dad to let up at all?" 

I shook my head. "Nah, when he makes up his mind, it's made up." I shrugged. "Maybe it's a blessing in disguise though. It'll give you more time to think about everything I've said without me around to bug you about it." 

She smiled and shifted her backpack. "Yeah. Maybe you're right there. For once." 

"Hey!" I said, pretending to be mad. "Give me more credit than that!"

She shook her head. "Nope, you don't deserve it." She pointed to her watch. "How are you going to explain being so late to your dad?" 

I glanced around. "Bike accident. Or no- I think I'll tell him I was helping an old lady carry groceries home or something. Maybe THAT'LL get him to think about lessening my punishment." 

Jana laughed. "Yeah, good idea. I think you need all the help you can get." 

"My, we're certainly getting our kicks now, aren't we?" I teased. 

"I think I'm allowed," she replied, sticking her tongue out at me. Amazing how some people can do that and still look beautiful. "Bye, Keith. See you at school," she added as she started down the sidewalk. Then she turned around and winked. "Maybe I'll say 'hi'." 

"I'll be praying about it," I called back and she laughed again, her wonderful adorable laugh. I felt a lot happier on the rest of the way home. So what if I went back to school and half the kids still snubbed me? At least Jana was willing to still be my friend. Or at least not my enemy. I knew she had the right to think about it some more, but I was pretty hopeful that she wouldn't go back to snubbing me like she did after last year's fiasco. And maybe we'd last the rest of the year, too, as I totally planned on keeping my promise and not getting into anymore trouble involving her again. It was like the saying on the D.U.I. signs- 'You can't afford it.' And I couldn't- I'd blown it so many times with Jana in just the past few weeks! 

And hey, I thought, as I pulled into my driveway a few minutes later. Sure I still thought Jana was the prettiest girl I knew and definitely the nicest (especially after all I've put her through), but there were other girls at school. Lots of other girls. Maybe it was time that I definitely moved on, checked out other options. Right now, I was Jana's friend- just her friend- but I was totally cool with that. Totally satisfied. 

Well... until maybe next year, anyway. 

Just kidding!!


End file.
